This is a wonderful story of a 15 year old girl who loses her mother, and spends a year questioning why, all the while hearing her mother's voice speaking to her, coaching her, teaching her, and telling her things that she did not know when her mother was alive.

Alice Martin is a typical teenager...hanging out with friends, having crushes on boys, and cherishes the times that she spends with her mom. Her mother, however, occasionally falls into deep depressions, and it was during one of these spells, that she kills herself. Alice, her 17 year old brother Will, and her Aunt Aggy struggle to find the answers why Annette Martin decided to do what she did.

Alice knows that nothing will ever be the same again, and wrestles with the fact that her mom is gone forever, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. When she begins hearing her dead mother's voice in her thoughts, she is not even afraid. Her mother's voice stays with her for a year and a day, answering many of Alice's questions.

This is moving coming-of-age story with a beautiful ending. ( )

Citaat: 'Mama kwam drie dagen na haar begrafenis terug.Mijn moeder dus, zo symbolies als maar kon. Na drie dagen, alsof ze Jezus christus was. 'Alice', fluisterde ze toen ik pannenkoeken stond te bakken en wachtte tot de luchtbellen verdweneen zodat ik ze kon omdraairen.'Ik ben het, mama, ik ben terug.' Ik reikte vreemd kalm naar de spatel. Ik had in dokter Spoch het stuk gelezen over hoe kinderen met de dood van een ouder omgaan. Oké, ik was dan vijftien, geen kind meer maar informatie is informatie. Hij zei niets over stemmen. Gebeurde dit echt? Ze zei: 'de siroop brandt aan alsje het gas zo hoog zet.' ( )