[ book tip by Tunde Eugenia Haulik ] This is the story of a five-year -old girl and her sister. This is the story of a long and strange holiday, the story of an unconventional mother, the story of an exciting year. This is also a story that sings the beauty of Morocco; it is a special homage to Marrakech and to the swirling, gipsy life of a hippy-generation mother.

Esther Freud captures the freedom, the joy, the beauty and sometimes the pain of being five years old. She does this in a humorous, wise and understanding way, without becoming sentimental, or obviously, kinky.

This little girl, her sister Bea and their mother embark on a journey to Morocco where they wander from the beautiful countryside into the crowded and bubbling city, from Sufi monastery to the high mountain villages. A beautiful life, with beautiful scenes, the freedom of sleeping under the stars in the velvety night, the fun of eating delicious and simple foods, the excitement of exploring new games and meeting new people.

Yet the book is not only about a happy summer with a funny and wild mother: Freud also explores the special relationship between siblings and presents the unique worldview of children in a subtle and effortless way. She writes about the importance of a father figure, and the importance of a home and of a sense of belonging. The five year-old narrator is in constant search of a father, without being conscious of it. She finds a father for herself and grows strong ties of trust and love, and has to learn too young, that children's lives are in the hands of adults. There is a darker side to this story. A little girl, without a home, without a father, with an eccentric and selfish mother. Confused, lost and grieving for all the people and places she loses as her mother whisks her and her sister off to yet another place, another destination.
The masterly touch in Freud's first novel is that the two kinds of stories: the joy sun fun and adventure and the sadness, loss and grief exist simultaneously expressing the often-ambivalent feelings of being alive.

[ book info ] Freud, Esther: Hideous Kinky. Penguin Books, London, 1993 .