Except for the memories and the pain in her face, Allison has left her life behind. Her destination isn’t as set as she’d hoped, resulting in her first night away sleeping in a ‘ramshackle shed, its door ajar, overshadowed by an abandoned house.’ She lays in the dark, remembering the fear, the pain, the lies and trying to hide it all for so long.

The house may look abandoned, but it has one occupant – an elderly lady called Marla. Marla’s memory is trying to abandon her, so when she sees Allison peering through a window, she is at first confused then certain Allison is someone she knows. Allison tries to flee, but Marla calls her back – naming her Toffee.

Allison tries to tell Marla her name, but Marla soon switches it back to Toffee – someone she used to dance with when they were young. A night of warm food, kind (if not confuddled) chatter and the offer of cream for the burn on her face, soon turns into weeks.

Allison is sure to hide when Peggy (Marla’s carer), and Donal (Marla’s son) visit, knowing instinctively they will throw her out. Marla talks about her to them, but they brush it off, thinking her dementia is doing the talking again.

A wonderful friendship evolves. The longer Allison is away from her past life, the stronger she becomes, especially when she finally tells the truth of it to Marla. Marla’s dementia is taking over, but her straight-up, mischievous personality helps Allison come to terms with her own worth. All the while, Allison tries to fill the gaps in Marla’s inadequate care from Social Services and the neglect Marla experiences from her own son. Two women, two generations apart, helping heal one another.

Once again in her signature poetic format, Sarah Crossan has written another beautiful story about people finding a way through a difficult and painful time. Polar opposites, Marla and Allison are thrown together by chance and become essential to one another’s lives.

Author – Sarah Crossan

Age – 13+

Teacher’s Notes here

(Friendship, Family, Neglect, Elderly, Abuse, Dementia,Memory, Memories, Poetry, Award Winning Author)