A Girl in Three Parts

March 16, 2020
Set in the early 1970s in a Sydney, Australia suburb, this emotionally nuanced coming-of-age tale follows Allegra Elsom for a year and a half beginning at age 11, as she begins to question why the three devoted adults raising her seem to hate each other. Allegra lives with practical Matilde, her deceased mother’s mother, a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor who nourishes Allegra with homegrown food and keeps her on a strict study schedule. Next door, her paternal grandmother, artistic Joy, who is Catholic, collects her own tears in labeled glass bottles, grows a garden to delight the senses, and urges Allegra to “decide your own course and steer your own ship.” In a nearby apartment lives her father Rick, a gentle carpenter and surfer, who has ceded parental authority. Daniel’s debut paints the family’s drama against a vivid backdrop of the 1970s feminist movement, as seamstress Matilde gets castigated for strikebreaking, and domestic violence and a botched abortion have lasting ramifications for the community. Daniel unpacks the psychological cost of family secrets through Allegra’s compelling narrative voice, which deftly captures the awkward transition into teendom and empowerment. Ages 12–up.