The story begins with a question: how was 66-year-old Lila able to vanish without trace? But the long flashback in the lives of Lila and her friend Elena doesn't give any answers. This novel (subtitled Book 1) ends with them both aged 16, so perhaps we must wait for Book 2, due to be released next month, to find the solution?
But the story of the two girls who become first allies against the neighbourhood boys then friends is entertaining and very descriptive of the lives of hard-working families in a poor community. Violence here is taken for granted by the children as husbands beat wives, parents beat children, and children fight one another.
Verbal insults which fly between families are also accepted as normal. Lila and Elena are bright. This makes them targets for the boys in their class who are not - and fights are common. Elena works hard at school but Lila does not. Yet she is still able to beat Elena and the two girls are promoted to Middle School at age 11, much to the consternation of their parents, who resent the fees they will have to pay.
Gradually, Lila drops out of school and is allowed to help her father in his shoemaker's shop, while Elena finds it increasingly difficult to keep up her grades. She is taken aback when she finds that Lila, although officially not studying, is keeping up to her level by reading library books.
There are distractions, of course; boyfriends or lack of them or the wrong sort are a problem. When Lila announces that she is getting married at age 16, and seemingly will settle for being a wife and mother, Elena is torn between envy and the pride that she will finish high school and hopefully achieve her ambition to be a writer.
That is where Book 1 ends, so there is a lot more to find out about this interesting pair. My hope is the next book is just as entertaining.
- Helen Adams is a retired nurse and keen reader.
