Children's & young adult fiction & true stories
Straight Ahead
by Emmanuelle Rey
Mauve, Tito and Diamond have been walking along the highway, under the scorching July sun, for the past three days. It was Mauve who decided everything, on a whim, when she realised that this time, her mom had really messed up. And, at fifteen, it was out of the question to be separated from her eight and two-year-old brothers to live with yet another rotten foster family. So the three siblings leave Montpellier and their chaotic life, closely tailed by the police. They leave to find Thierry and Martine, whose smiles and ratatouille chicken Mauve remembers fondly. They start walking straight ahead to Marseille and La Pointe Rouge, with the hope of a new life. Straight Ahead follows the singular path of Mauve and her two brothers, filled with life-altering adventures and realistic characters. Furthermore, in a series of flashbacks, Mauve tells us all about her mother—an eccentric woman who certainly doesn’t seem able to take care of her children, but who is full of love for them nonetheless. • The complexity of a mother-child relationship, when a mother’s love isn’t enough to make up for her shortcomings • The unique bond between siblings that will help them deal with life on the road • Interesting encounters and experiences — good and bad — that teach valuable life lessons
