Getting to Normal

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

The Redferns are a dysfunctional family. The father is seldom at home.
The mother is very unhappy and incapable of putting the needs of her two
daughters—Sarah, 15, and Alice, 7—above her own. Sarah has to deal
not only with her mother’s rejection but also with a viral infection
that lands her in hospital for nine days and then at home for the spring
and summer. Silence, temper tantrums, and accidents are her primary
coping mechanisms until the arrival of two adults: Irma, a refugee from
Sarajevo, who comes to keep house when Sarah’s mother goes to New York
“to rest”; and Miss Wilkinson, who gives Sarah lessons at home
before she returns to school.

The novel is written from a child’s point of view, but the
perspective and language are not those of a seven-year-old. The dialogue
is stilted, and the characters are not very sympathetic.