In the mid-80s, in New York, a man is dying of AIDS. To most of the world he’s a famous artist, but to our fourteen-year-old heroine June, he’s her beloved uncle Finn. Before he dies, Finn paints once last painting, a portrait of June and her sister Greta; being the perfectionist that he is, he dies still dissatisfied with it. Then, at his funeral, June sees a strange man outside watching her and Greta.
HIV/AIDS provides the backdrop for the plot of this beautiful YA novel, but its momentum comes from two sets of sibling relationships: that between June and Greta, and that between Finn and his sister Danielle, June’s mother. June and Greta used to be close, until Greta, two years older, became beautiful and good at everything (not to mention pretty bitchy), leaving chunky, mediocre June feeling useless and childish. By painting their portrait, Finn hopes to tie them together in a way that will last after he’s gone. Meanwhile, Danielle has never forgiven Finn for leaving her behind when he went to Europe to become an artist, and such is her grudge that she’s forced Finn into a huge lie in order to have a relationship with her daughters.
There is no way to prepare for the feelings you will have when you read this book. The setting alone will destroy you – the fear and uncertainty of the AIDS crisis at its peak is sketched in tiny details that have a heartbreaking ring of truth. The real joy, however, is in watching the interactions of four or five beautifully-detailed characters, each with their own secrets and agendas, who are heading for an inevitable collision in a game with stakes that are as high as they go. These are all people who are desperate to connect with one another, but who can’t put aside the roles they’ve settled into. This is YA as it ought to be done: with parents who are human beings, choices that have real-world significance, and the feeling of standing on the edge of a new world while being unwilling to let the old one go.