This heartfelt novel covers three generations. It tells the mother-daughter story of Eileen and Peggy. After her little sister Lilly is killed by a passing car, Eileen blames herself. Trying to shield herself from imagined hatred, she finds comfort in numbers. Her parents can't cope with her erratic behaviour after she tries to burn down their house. Fearing for the safety of their other four children, they put Eileen in a psychiatric hospital. As a teenager, she falls pregnant with Peggy to fellow inpatient, Leroy McHoile. With the help of Nurse Peggy, Eileen and Leroy begin a life in the Port Melbourne commission flats. Sadly, Leroy cannot cope with married life and abandons Eileen and Peggy. In turn, Eileen abandons eight-year-old Peggy, when she hears Lilly calling to her. Peggy then goes into foster care. We see the challenges Peggy faces in her search for love and friendship. Although she is blessed with incredible beauty and artistic skills, she struggles to overcome her juvenile schizophrenia. When she is hospitalised, she bonds with a feisty fellow patient called Sarah Frau. As outpatients, they become bitter love rivals. However, Peggy's life improves when she works at Westall Insurance Company. To her delight, she meets Eileen's younger brother, Michael, at the opening night of her art exhibition in Richmond. He owns a successful winery in Adelaide, and wasn't sure if Peggy ever existed. Together they solve the mystery of Eileen's disappearance and help each other to heal.
Quoting Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, a renowned psychiatrist and international speaker who's appeared on television, and is the CEO of both the HER Women's Centre for Mental Health, and MAPrc (Monash Alfred Psychiatric Research Centre), and has won The City Of Melbourne Award for her research on mental health:
'Dear Maggie, I finally read your book - it is wonderful! Sorry I took so long - but I read it in one go - because it was so captivating. Your descriptions of schizophrenia, OCD, grief, drug use are brilliant and capture the awfulness of these disorders but also the true humanity of the people with mental illness and their families. The characters are so real and vivid and their creativity plus sensitivity are all brilliantly portrayed. Melbourne through the ages is another wonderful part of this book and the descriptions of Albert Park, Port Melbourne, Chapel Street plus many others are vivid and bring the scenes to life. I held my breath in the last chapters because I was hoping that Peggy would have a positive time with her new Art career and Richard, but wasn't sure if she was going to have a relapse. I was very relieved to read that she did have some "happy ever after" aspects to her traumatic life. Poor Eileen's story is written with incredible depth and sadness - a really brilliant portrayal of the complexity of her life. I highly recommend your latest book as another sensitive and clear piece of writing about people with mental illness. Well Done! Cheers Jayashri'
