“Merry had finally realised on that long drive back from Jindabyne—with help from a wise elder—what it was that was eating at her youngest, causing him to implode. Archie was hungry! Starving, in fact, for his mother and her cooking, and the life they used to share. “Parents often step back when kids become adolescents,” Earle had told her. “You ask me, that’s a big mistake. Fourteen-year-olds need as much love and attention as four-year-olds, maybe even more.”