Ten Things I've Learnt About Love by Sarah Butler

Ten Things I've Learnt About Love

Sarah Butler

When her Father is dying, Alice returns home from Mongolia. The youngest of three sisters, she has always felt an outsider and is aware of a secret which her sisters seem to know. In a parallel narration, Daniel is homeless and his mission is to find the daughter he has never known.Their paths cross as Alice struggles to come to terms with her Father's death to find her niche in the world. A moving and inspiring read of loss and belonging.

Extract
Before Alice came along, everything was fun. Before Alice came along, Dad wasn't so distracted, so withdrawn. I remember Cee, once, her eyes black with anger, her fists locked onto her hips, declaring I should never have been born in the first place, I was a great big mistake and Mama and Daddy were cross when I came along. I ran crying to Dad. I must have been six, maybe seven. He lifted me onto his lap and smoothed the hair from my eyes, rocked me until I was calm enough to speak through the sobs. He denied it, of course he did, told me I was beautiful and wanted, a gift to him and Mama .... Even so I left his study with a lingering sense of uncertainty, lodged like a sea-worn pebble at the base of my throat.
Parallels
  • Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  • Red Ink by Julie Mayhew