The title refers to a string which Dorcas’ brother, Caleb, threads beads onto. A bead for their mother, father and each of the four siblings. The order of the beads reflects the order of favouritism from their mother, the length between beads changing upon their behaviour. Dorcas is always the last bead, sometimes struggling to remain on the string.
It is the 1960s and The Adelaide Dorcas’ family are Christadelphianss, a Christian group who live in isolation, shun general society apart from school and work.
Her mother is chronically depressed having previously had a nervous breakdown. The children keep a record of her daily moods in a journal. The bad heavily outweigh the good. She struggles to live as a Christadelphian, at times yearning for her family back in Scotland and ‘normal’ life. She treats Dorcas harshly, blatantly displaying her favouritism for her siblings.
Picton establishes a strong rapport between reader and character. Dorcas is such a deep, rich, lovable character. With a mischievous streak, she is perpetually in trouble, always putting her foot in her mouth, unable to stay quiet. In her own words, ‘often naughty, but not stupid’.
When a 12-year-old is repeatedly told they are a terrible child, they eventually believe it. Credit must also go to Picton for how authentically she writes the story from Dorcas’ perspective. A child sees the world so differently than an adult. A really engaging read.
Reviewed by Neale Lucas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When she was fifty years old, many, many years ago, it occurred to Denise to ask her mother where her name came from. Her mother claimed she went to the movies when she was pregnant in 1956 and on the newsreel preceding the film, she watched a lithe, athletic European shot putter called Denise practice for the Olympics and knew it was sign about what she should name her baby.
When Denise could find no evidence of a shot putter with that name in the Olympic records, it occurred to her that she might have inherited story telling tendencies from her mother.
Denise wrote when she was a child, and had poetry and short fiction published in her teens and twenties. Following a career in human services management, Denise established her own consulting company that sopped up most of her energy for several decades.
When she was in her mid fifties, it occurred to her that if she didn’t write a novel soon, she may need an aged care support person to hold the pen for her when she finally got around to it. She decided to write a novel every year until someone bloody well published one of them.
Because she worked full time and long days, she began the routine of reading on Saturdays and writing on Sundays. Six novels later, Ultimo Press read one of her books and offered her a book deal.
Denise considered writing under a pseudonym, but decided this would deny the legacy of the famous European shot putter.
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