SuitabookShine
Candy Gourlay
- Reading
- Read together if useful, pausing when the story turns to Rosa’s isolation, her mother or the online friendship. Let the reader set the pace and say what feels mysterious or difficult.
- Themes
- Fear and exclusion: On Mirasol, people who share Rosa’s condition are shunned as monsters, and Rosa is kept hidden away. The story brings community fear and exclusion into focus through Rosa’s experience of being shunned and hidden away.
- Myths and ghosts in a modern setting: The novel combines island ghost beliefs and Rosa’s candle ritual with contemporary online friendship. The story weaves island ghost beliefs and a candle ritual together with contemporary online friendship.
- Worth knowing
- Rosa is isolated because islanders shun people with her condition; her mother’s death and wish to bring her back add grief. Ghost beliefs and uncertainty about the online boy may also feel unsettling.