Our Little World
Karen Winn
Dutton Books
Summer 1985: Audrina and Borka “Bee” Kocsis live in Hammond, an ordinary small New Jersey town. The summer’s hot and humid, and the grade school kids play in their quiet neighborhood or go swimming at Deer Chase Lake. Bee is attracted to new kid Max, whose family moves from Boston to the house across the cul-de-sac. She’s worried that her charismatic younger sister will win his attention before she can, in the way Audrina always seems to effortlessly fascinate people.
… the importance of sisterhood.
An idyllic day spent at the lake turns to bone-deep fear when Max’s little sister, four-year-old Sally, goes missing. Bee and Audrina’s childhood world is shaken to the core. Nothing is the same. The town’s kids are placed in lockdown, everyone is suspicious of everyone else, and Bee’s home life is full of tensions she can sense but not fully understand. She has a secret which might change everything, but Bee can’t find the willpower or the nerve to confide in anyone. Max is naturally withdrawn and unreachable. Bee’s relationship with Audrina, once close, becomes frayed to the point of unraveling forever as the girls grow older. It takes another tragedy and a shock revelation to make Bee realize the importance of sisterhood.
Our Little World evokes the different time that was the 1980s. Karen Winn has crafted a modern classic. The trials and tribulations of childhood, the caustic nature of envy, and the poignant end of Bee and Audrina’s innocence are all wonderfully drawn.
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