In this engaging and lightly humorous first-person story, 12-year-old Maisie, an aspiring artist, expects she’ll take over her family’s art shop when she gets older. Her parents surprise her, however, by sending her from their home in upstate New York to spend the summer with her aunt in Scotland in order to “try new things.” Her brother Calum, who ran away six years ago and has been estranged from the family, turns up in Scotland shortly afterwards and convinces Maisie to stay with him in London instead.
It turns out that one of Calum’s flatmates is actually his boyfriend, and one of the reasons Calum left home was because of his parents’ reaction to him being gay. They were so scared for his safety that they pressured him to stay closeted. Maisie must absorb that news while also balancing the shifting relationship with her best friend at home, who is growing a little more distant now that she’s dating someone (who happens to be nonbinary). Additionally, her parents’ shop is struggling financially, casting Maisie’s future career plans into doubt. She hatches a plan to save the shop, but this will require reuniting their increasingly fractured family and learning what her brother needs from her as an ally.
Author Sabrina Kleckner smartly avoids a pat ending, however, leaving readers hopeful but with enough uncertainty that the book doesn’t feel predictable. An impressive debut with humor and heart.
