The Girls From Corona Del Mar, Rufi Thorpe

Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can’t quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend’s life. Until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall apart further – and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both. A staggeringly arresting, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends.

Publisher:  Hutchinson, August 2014

Reviewer:  Natalie Kershaw I didn’t actually intend to read this book in one day! I found that I had half an hour so I decided to start reading…..then I spent the rest of the day whenever I had a moment like waiting for the kettle to boil reading on. After I put the children to bed I sat down and thought I’d just read a little bit more. Well, it was only when I finished the book and I realised that I had certain numb extremities and it was 11pm that I realised what a good read that was. I had no idea of time.

It’s fantastic and I couldn’t put it down. The cover put me off a little and the description of “a novel about growing up, growing apart and learning where we belong” didn’t do much for me to be honest either. Do not be put off. There are 244 pages so a good length of book

It’s a story about two girls – Mia and Lorrie Ann – and the events that shape them as they grow up. Things do not go the way you would expect them to which makes it such a fascinating read. How the characters interact together, how they are portrayed in reality and how someone else portrays them, love and friendship all make you think. You will be happy and sad as you follow these characters as though they were your own friends.

There are hard-hitting topics in this book but they’re not written in a deliberately shocking way but in a it’s just part of life way. It is honest and many mothers can relate to the trials and tribulations, thoughts and fears of having children and for their children.

I would highly recommend this book.

Reviewer:  Sharley Phillips