The Thing About Lemons by Tasha Harrison

Published by UCLan

WHAT happens when you’re not the hero of your story, but the villain? So often the protagonists of novels for teenagers are innocent, responding to the events that happen to them, and facing up to those who have hurt them. This kind of story can be important and brilliant in its own right, however, there is something deeply refreshing about a central character who has done something awful.

Young people make mistakes as they first experience new types of relationships and complex emotions, whether this is damaging friendships, not making the effort to connect with beloved family or even not connecting with themselves to develop.

All of this and more plagues 16-year-old Ori as we meet her at the beginning of what should have been her best summer yet, but a big mistake has begun to spiral out of control.

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For as long as she could remember, Ori hid her feelings for her best-friend Ava’s boyfriend Jackson, in the hopes that one day they would break up and in time it would be acceptable for her to make a move. All this scheming came to nothing when, in a moment alone, she followed the urge to kiss him and he kissed back, until Ava walked in on them.

Hated by her best friend and the boy she’d thought it would eventually be alright to pursue, it was certain that the rest of their friend group, except the ever-wise and loyal Ravi, would shut her out.

At the insistence of her optimistic mother, Ori will spend a couple of weeks in France with her grandfather Claude, which seems like anything but a good replacement. Claude, being a forgetful, free-spirited womanizer, wasn’t always the best father to her mum, and a rarely present grandfather to her – so she dreads the trip.

This is only worsened by the thought in the back of her mind that her cheating behaviour makes them more alike than she would want to admit, and that these kinds of big mistakes that hurt others are a family trait. They arrive in France and pick up Claude’s eccentric artist sister Odette, and spending time in the countryside with two older, imperfect people teaches her more than she ever could have imagined.

Ori is not always a likeable character, but the reader is always able to root for her to improve as she examines her own flaws and reconnects with her family, nature and herself.

She learns to distance herself from the drama by picking up new skills as they work together to fix up Claude’s barn to become a music venue, rebuilds her confidence with a summer romance and wonders if all can really be lost as her grandfather and great-aunt talk out decades-long resentments over good music and wine.

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There is never a moment in which Tasha Harrison’s writing excuses or forgets the selfishness of Ori’s behaviour, but it suggests instead that there is room to grow for a teenager who has experienced what it is to really hurt someone for the first time.

The issues explored are not simple, but they are approached with understanding for everyone involved, and a great deal of impressive character development alongside a bright sense of humour makes it a perfect late-summer read for teens who may need to hear that the scariest moments don’t define them.