Every page of Simon Mason’s Moon Pie rang true. On the book-cover, I remember reading that someone called it an ‘ultra-modern’ story. I was not sure what to expect.
I certainly did not expect this kind of brutal honesty. It made me shake my head and cry.
Eleven-year-old Martha is puzzled by her father’s strange behaviour. Martha’s mother is dead, and the girl assumes that her father is grieving and so, naturally, behaving strangely.
But Martha’s mother always said that someone had to think straight, someone had to keep his head.
So Martha has to keep her head. After all, she is eleven, she tells herself. She is old enough to take care of herself, to take care of her five-year-old brother Tug and to make endless lists of things to do to maintain order despite her father’s strange behaviour. She is eleven. She cooks, makes lists and tries to do the things on the list.
One thing on the list that seemed a little hard to do is to make them a family again.
Moon Pie is the story of a child forced to grow up, but so young that she is afraid of the world. It is the story of a child who sees everything and wants everyone to be happy. It is the story of a fragile child who almost breaks, but then somehow manages to hold herself together because if she lets go, she knows she will be shattered.
Moon Pie is a story that leaves you with a heart that’s full.
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