A Small Part of Me

Christinas mother walked out on her when she was just six years old. Now in her early thirties Christina has reached a desperate crossroads as a mother herself and goes on the run with her youngest child, in a bid to find her mother, Greta, and sanctuary from her husband and family. Her journey takes her across the Atlantic to America, and ultimately leads her to the west coast of Canada where she meets Luke, a Native Canadian on a mission of his own. At times challenged and inspired by her new alien environment, Christina returns to memories of her childhood, growing up on the river in Meath, Ireland, and her relationship with her enigmatic stepmother Angeline, who was once her mothers best friend. Against the backdrop of the open, wild, and dramatic landscape of the North West Pacific, which contrasts so strongly with the enclosed spaces of her homeland, Christina begins to acknowledge the shameful reason behind her own failed motherhood and discovers a dark secret her family has never revealed. A Small Part of Me is a beautifully evocative novel about love lost, the complexity of parental love, the innocence of the love of a child, and the possibility of finding a lovea mirror for our soulsin another human being.