Dimensions
154 x 233 x 25mm
After a frightening psychotic break at a high-school party in California, Vera has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Suddenly, she and her family are plunged into the absurdity and banality of the mental health system.
Her father Lucas, who has only recently re-entered Vera's life, hatches an unlikely plan: he will take her to Lithuania, homeland of his grandmother. Maybe trying to reconnect to his family's past can show them the way forward for Vera's future.
But Lithuania turns out to be a much stranger and darker place than either of them could have imagined.
As Lucas searches Vilnius for answers about his family, Vera pours her heart out in letters home to her boyfriend Fang, and struggles with her own impossible questions: Why did Lucas abandon her as a baby? What really happened the night of her breakdown? And who can she trust with the truth?
Skilfully weaving family mythology and Lithuanian history with a story of memory, mental illness, young love and adventure, Rufi Thorpe has written a wildly accomplished, stunningly emotional book.
