Synopsis When Dippy, Matty and Pippa discover a body, their wayward father is arrested for murder. Afraid of being taken into care , they run away in search of their lost mother and sister, and of a family secret.

Review: Reading this absorbing novel, we get the impression of history moving in two directions - forward and backwards - as three enterprising children search for their mother, and discover their family history.

Nine year old Pippa has a twin sister, Zara, but has not seen her since she was a bay. Instead, she carries a doll with her, just as Zara does, living far away with their mother in Paris. Their mother, however has blanked out the memories of her unhappy marriage, and her other children, and only regains her memory (and her children) when a chance encounter with another family reveals a common history between the two.

DelMonte weaves her story skillfully between the two branches of the modern family, and several branches of earlier family history, immersing readers in the dilemmas each faces both publicly and in their private lives. She shows that familial cruelty may differ between generations as to its cause, but thst it always blights lives within and beyond its own century. We also see how societal position, and happiness, can be changed at the whim of those around us, or because of a change in circumstances. Despite the awful examples of the sins of fathers being visited on their children,

DelMonte convinces us of the innate strength of family relationships, however unconventional they may be, and of the loyalty between siblings, which can transcend death.

2008-04-12