RACHEL ANDERSON

Col.lecció Pròxima Parada. A partir de 6 anys. Història d´una nena amb síndrome de Down

Bea se siente sola cuando su hermana trae a casa a su mejor amiga, Isa, pues no la dejan jugar con ellas. Isa no ha visto nunca a nadie como Bea -que tiene el síndrome de Down-, pero ésta, inesperadamente, encontrara un amigo estupendo. De esta historia fluye naturalmente un sentimiento de tolerancia y comprension hacia los diferentes.

Set in an about-to-be-demolished high-rise block of flats, various characters have arrived from a variety of situations; their lives and their stories, interweave, change and affect each other, and travel towards deeply moving, often funny, happy and painful outcomes. At the core of the story are two asylum seekers: All fifteen-year-old Sunday wanted was a country that was democratic and respectful of human life. All eight-year-old Rosa wanted was somewhere safe, away from the bad things of the past. Through their eyes, ideas of Britain and belonging are explored. Moving, thoughtful, outstanding and unforgettable.

It is the late 1950s: teenagers have barely begun to be invented. Ruth and her older sister Mary struggle with the chaos of their parents attempts to support five children by renting a rambling country house and running it as a holiday home for children of the rich. When their father dies, their increasingly desperate mother turns her efforts to the two hapless girls. Eager to marry them off, she plunges them into dancing classes and presentation at Buckingham Palace as phoney under-age debutants. Instead Mary finds LIFE at art school in a nearby town, with beatniks, jazz poets and dancing in the river. When friends persuade their mother to take the family to a new start in London, Ruth finds that she, too, has other life-plans . . .

Throughout the years that Veritas has spent trying to rear me, theres one essential truth shes always stuck to. Love is stronger than mountains. My mothers name meant truth. But could any of us trust her to tell the truth about our family?Can Ruth and her sister Mary discover lasting love for themselves amid the chaos of their large bohemian family? And what about their eccentric mother? Could they find a new love for her too? After the hardships of the 50s, how will any of them experience the new freedoms of the swinging 60s? As Ruth stands at the altar promising love to a young man till the end of life, under her breath she makes a vow: to set down everything of the past, the reality of a girlhood constantly touched by sadness, yet always profoundly secure.

Grandmothers Footsteps begins on the day the Second World War ends, seen through the eyes of the bewildered young Ruth. Mesmerised and terrified by the break-up of the wartime world she is so used to, scared by her mothers disappearance to London in search of their absent father, she clings to the familiar world of her grandmother. Stick by me, Granny tells her, and youll be all right. But already Ruths exuberant mother has other plans for the family - a move to London and a succession of wild schemes that bring constant change and upheaval, opening and closing new horizons and leaving young Ruth feeling always - as the years go by - adrift. Except, that is, in the safe, sure haven of her grandmothers life.

Hamish is sensible, conscientious, and respectable, friends with the good boys, stays away from the bad ones. When his father is murdered in an act of random violence, Hamishs world turns upside down. Angry and alienated, Hamish begins to lose his tolerant beliefs and is drawn towards racist reactions.A move to France promises a much needed new beginning, but only builds Hamishs new attitudes as he becomes embroiled in the narrow-minded views of the locals. But then a boat of north-african refugees founders on the coast and Hamish encounters the sole survivor. Now his world is turned upside down again, caught between the violence of his past experiences and new realities unfolding in front of him.