Liberty Johansen adores the night sky. She has spent so much time staring up at the stars, she can draw precise star maps from memory. Liberty has always wanted people to see more in the stars than what they are told to see. Why should everyone be restricted to things like The Big Dipper or Cassiopeia? People should join the dots/stars with what they see.

This love of the stars came from spending hours and hours outdoors with her family. They live in a cabin with forest all around, love camping and sleeping outside in the summer as much as they can, hiking, bird watching and canoeing. At least… they used to.

Dad has left. He suffers from depression and needs to be on his own for a while. Mum seems okay with it, and this ultimately confuses Liberty and and her 9 year old sister. Being 12, Liberty feels she has to be a good example for her sister, so bottles up this confusion. She doesn’t rock the boat, ask the questions she needs to ask, or have anyone to talk to.

Dad doesn’t contact them for weeks, keeps cancelling weekend visits at the last minute, which in turn upsets any plans Mum has made. Liberty is in awe of her mum who remains calm and there for them, even though she must be hurting too.

The more Liberty presses down her feelings, the more they fester, becoming an angry heat that pulses inside without a release. Liberty does her best to handle it, talks to a counselor and an unlikely source, but now fears that she too has depression.

When she discovers the truth about why Dad left, she finally lets go her hurt and anger – explaining how she feels instead of only worrying about everyone else around her.

This is a heart breaking account of a fracturing family, something incredibly common and needing awareness. 12 year old Liberty feels like her entire family has fallen from space and she is navigating an alien planet.

Her feelings are alien, and her favourite things are now suddenly unimportant to her. Add this into the normal struggles of early teen life like new schools, bullies, and changing boy/girl dynamics, and Liberty is swamped with emotions she doesn’t understand.

There is no fluffy, happy, Disney ending, but a realistic place where the family can move on from. Liberty’s voice is so real and raw, and her younger sister’s journey is portrayed beautifully too. These sisters have to find a new normal and the author masters this journey they have to make. Sad and hopeful at the same time.

Author – Amy Sarig King

Age – 11+

(Divorce, Family, Sisters, Betrayal, Tween, School, Guilt, Depression, Mental Illness, Anger, Feelings, Emotions, Change, Break up, Confusion. Space, Stars, Finding your way, Bullies, Grief, Growing up)