In Norah Lally’s middle-grade novel, BACK TO BAINBRIDGE, fourteen-year-old Vicki has to move into a new neighborhood for the sixth time in five years. Her family is evicted and forced to move in with her grandmother, even though her mom and grandmother don’t have the best relationship. Amid this change in her living situation, she is planning a move more daring: a journey across the country in search of a father who disappeared six years ago. Scared to start afresh after only just beginning to make friends in her previous neighborhood, she is pleasantly surprised when she befriends the super’s daughter, who paves the way for a perspective-changing experience and allows her to uncover buried secrets.
Vicki is a relatable character who often seems more composed than her mom and offers insight about everyone around her. Interestingly, unlike her mom, she also knows to check the finger of a man her mom is flirting with for a ring, evincing her keen observation skills. Her maturity is conveyed with palpable emotions, such as when they have to stay in a motel briefly and her anxiety rises as she “pressed my fingernails into the palms of my sweaty hands and prayed Mom’s card wouldn’t be declined. I had a hundred and eight dollars in my ladybug wallet, just in case.”
While she is mature and knows things aren’t always as they seem (as she eyes her mom’s new boyfriend with suspicion), the innocence of her age is clear as she clings to an image of her dad in her desperation to not accept that he abandoned them—despite the explanation provided by her mother, whom she paints as a villain. Developing throughout the story, Vicki is an intricate character who learns to confide in others.
Through observations, interactions, and easy-flowing dialogue, the characters come alive. The family dynamics are conveyed with authenticity as she shares a room with her teeth-grinding younger sister, who tries to act older than her twelve years, and her ten-year-old brother, who carries his teddy bear around and acts younger than his age. Beautifully, the growth experienced isn’t limited to Vicki. It is evident in her family and friends.
Lally vivifies the Bronx (where Bainbridge Avenue is located) through descriptions of, for instance, summer days when neighbors set out folding chairs on sidewalks, or talk until the streetlights come on while soaking their feet in wading pools filled with cool water as the ice cream truck makes frequent rounds up the block.
Moving at an uninterrupted, steady pace, BACK TO BAINBRIDGE by Norah Lally emotively captures the struggles of a young teen as she tries to find a place that feels like home while making sense of her family situation.
~Gabriella Harrison for IndieReader