Speaking to Miranda

by Caroline MacDonald

Miranda has always been an inseparable part of Ruby's life. But then Ruby becomes obsessed with the mystery of her mother's life and early death, until she no longer knows who she is, who Miranda is, or where her search will end.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Born in New Zealand, Caroline Macdonald moved to Australia in 1982 and passed away in Adelaide, South Australia.

She wrote mostly fantasy and science fiction for older children and young adults and her stories were often set in New Zealand or Australia.

Reviews

[Cassandra Sinclair · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a good example of why rereading books from youth is not always necessarily a good idea.

My MEMORY of reading this book roughly 30 years ago is that it was breathtakingly original and suspenseful, with a twist near the end that left me stunned.

My experience of reading it in my 40s was that the narrative style is choppy, with mostly shallow, one-dimensional characters. Obviously, I knew going in this time what the twist was going to be, so I wasn't going to be shocked by it regardless, but I think now that if this had been my first time reading the book, it still wouldn't have had the impact it did in my early teens. Overall, it just wasn't nearly as good as I remember believing it was when I first read it.

I do appreciate that some of the mysteries of Ruby's background were left unsolved. This still feels real and organic - obviously, there would be holes that couldn't be filled. But otherwise, I wish I'd skipped this reread.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and complex enough story about a young woman (Ruby) searching for her identity and her sense of self, the contradictory way families define us and the importance of agency. The use of the imaginary (?) friend Miranda is a good way to explore aspects of her inner life while I was fascinated that although her (deceased) mother was a mystery she had in the end two almost-fathers both of whom were very caring and helpful to her. The tension between what people know about her and don't is interesting too.

They didn't oversweeten the book with a romance either- touches of romance for some of the characters but not a central one!

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made the mistake of starting this one before work and had to wait all day to finish it; fortunately it is short enough that it wasn't a long, drawn out, suspenseful read.
Lots of questions, most of them answered. Genetic heart defects are a hell of a thing to not get tested for when a direct family member died from one though.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book and was fairly intrigued by the concept but as I read on it seemed to diverge from the Miranda concept and I got a bit bored so I skipped to the end and the reason behind Miranda was very generic, like something I'd read in primary school.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightfully creepy story of Ruby, who at eighteen begins to search for clues about her long-dead mother's past. All her life, Ruby has been able to talk to someone-- a spirit, or guardian angel-- that her mother called "Miranda." But as Ruby gets closer to her mother's past, Miranda's comments become increasingly more barbed, and the truth that she finds is different from what she was looking for . . . I loved this book which was both weirdly supernatural and an interesting look at Australian surf culture, an unusual mixture.

[Kim]

I didn't like this book. Skipped ahead just to find out who Miranda was and the mother 's history.