This story is about a girl that struggles with her inner traumas and finds help through her friend and teacher to face her life and her family as estranged it may be to finally reconcile with her father who is in prison. Marina is the unintended victim of a vial of acid that was thrown by her father and now she has a scarred face. The format of the story is in a diary because she would rather that than talk to anybody. She did not talk to anyone during her recovery period at the hospital so she was sent to Warrington which happens to be a girl's boarding school to monitor her condition within a controlled setting. Lisa, Sophie and Cathy are introduced to her as the girls that will help her in school and also as the girls that will be in her dorm. Cathy is the one that gets through to her but she still finds it too hard to express the feelings that she has inside.
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The contributing factor to her depression is her parents. Every weekend parents visit the children at school but Cathy has no one as her father is in prison and her mother does not want to visit because of the shame that she feels on behalf of her daughter. She he isolates herself from anyone else by not joining clubs or sports events but the encouragement from Cathy is taking effect. She places a flower on Cathy's bed and later on she gives her a card but runs away. She is obviously still shy but is making a definite effort. Her English teacher Mr. Lindell asks her to stay over with his family on the weekend and she finds that she really has fun but when she is told that she will go over to her mother's house over the holidays she returns to her mute state.
When she goes to her mothers place and they visit the doctor, they are not able to see the level of recovery and decide to not let her go back to Warrington. When Mr. Lindell visits her and gives her a hug and the doctor reads her letter, they decide that she in fact has made progress. At this point, she forces herself to confront her trauma and writes a letter to her father which is replied. She wants to visit him but does not know how. When she visits Cathy over the weekend she gets and opportunity to go see him and takes it. At the prison she is extremely tense but when she sees him at the end, they hug and it seems that everything is going to be better.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like this story because the whole of the main character's world is in a journal where she records her feelings. She is the rue essence of an introvert which is interesting as a personality.
Best scene in story:
I liked the scene at the beginning of the book where Marina was at school and the teacher said they had to regularly record their events in a journal. I liked this because it was exactly what the main character was made for now that she recorded her whole world in a book.
Opinion about the main character:
I like that the main character is able to heal herself despite all of the trauma that she has gone through to even get the courage to face her father in the end.
