“You can't just sit around waiting for your life to happen.”
— Alice's mother, Angie, urging her to be proactive.
Archivist's Choice
Alice Bliss
Laura Harrington (2011)
Genre
Young Adult
Reading Time
360 min
Key Themes
See below
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As her father deploys to Iraq, tomboy Alice Bliss handles adolescence, first love, and family loyalty, all while dealing with his absence.
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Alice Bliss is upset when her father, Matt, goes to Iraq. She looks up to him, sharing his interest in gardening, roofing, and baseball. His leaving creates a big empty space in her life, making her face a new reality without him. Alice grows up, changing from a tomboy to a teenager. She learns to drive, joins the track team, goes to her first school dance, and experiences first love with her next-door neighbor. All this happens as she tries to be strong for her mother, Angie, and cares for her sister, Ellie. As time passes, the smell of her father fades from his blue shirt, and the short phone calls are not enough to cover the growing distance. Alice deals with unspoken fears and responsibility, relying on her small town community. The story ends with Matt's expected return, making Alice and her family adjust to a 'new normal.' They face the lasting effect of his absence and the changes they have all gone through.
Reading time
360 min
Difficulty
Easy
Pacing
Moderate
Mood
Heartwarming, Reflective, Poignant, Hopeful
✓ Read this if...
You enjoy heartfelt coming-of-age stories about resilience, family bonds, and the impact of wartime on those left behind, with a focus on emotional depth and character development.
✗ Skip this if...
You prefer fast-paced plots with high stakes or explicit wartime action, as this book focuses more on the internal and domestic experiences.
Plot Summary
Matt's Deployment and Alice's Devastation
Alice Bliss, a thirteen-year-old in a small town, has a very close relationship with her father, Matt. They spend many hours together, gardening, working on roofs, or playing baseball. Matt is Alice's main support, and his upcoming deployment to Iraq breaks her sense of security and happiness. The news affects their family, including her mother, Angie, and younger sister, Ellie. Alice struggles to understand life without her father around. She finds comfort only in the familiar smell of his blue work shirt, which she starts wearing daily, holding onto the last physical piece of him before he leaves.
Adjusting to Life Without Matt
With Matt gone, the Bliss home feels very quiet. Alice tries to fill the empty space by taking on more tasks, helping her mother with chores and looking after Ellie. However, she deeply feels the lack of her father's guidance and company. She keeps wearing his shirt, finding comfort in its fading smell, a quiet sign of her lasting love and longing. The townspeople offer help, but Alice often feels alone in her grief, finding it hard to explain how sad she is to anyone, even her mother, who is also dealing with Matt's absence.
New Interests and Budding Independence
As the school year goes on, Alice finds something unexpected in the track team. At first unsure, she discovers she is good at running, especially the mile. The physical activity and being with her teammates, including her friend Sarah, give her a needed distraction and a feeling of success. This new interest helps Alice use her energy and grief, letting her develop some independence separate from her father's influence. It is a big step in her growing up, as she starts to find her own way and identity during a hard time.
First Love and Growing Up
While dealing with her father's absence, Alice starts to like Jake, the boy next door. Their friendship slowly turns into a new romance. They spend time together, sharing quiet moments and innocent signs of affection. Jake's presence gives Alice another form of comfort and distraction, a new connection that helps fill some of the emotional space left by her father. This first love is a big event in her adolescence, teaching her about closeness, vulnerability, and the mixed feelings of growing up during uncertainty.
The Weight of Responsibility and Family Dynamics
With Matt deployed, Alice feels more responsible for her family, especially for her younger sister, Ellie, who shows more openly that she misses their father. Alice often takes on a parent-like role, comforting Ellie and trying to keep things normal. Her relationship with her mother, Angie, sometimes becomes more tense, as both deal with their own grief and the pressures of running the house. Alice wants her mother's emotional support but often feels she has to be the strong one, leading to moments of unspoken tension and misunderstanding between them.
Driving Lessons and Symbolic Milestones
As Alice gets close to her sixteenth birthday, she starts taking driving lessons. This event shows her growing independence and her journey into adulthood. Driving, taking control of a car, reflects her wish to control her own life despite outside events. It is a mixed experience, as she wishes her father were there to teach her, as they had always planned. The lessons are a clear sign of her progress, a step forward in a world that feels stopped by Matt's absence.
The School Dance and Shifting Friendships
Alice goes to her first school dance with Jake, a big social event that shows her moving into a more typical teenage experience. The dance is a mix of excitement and awkwardness, reflecting her self-discovery. She handles the social situations with her friends, including her changing friendship with Sarah, who is also having her own teenage problems. The dance, though seemingly ordinary, is a powerful moment for Alice, letting her briefly escape the worries of her father's deployment and enjoy the fun and difficulties of being a teenager.
The Fading Scent and Growing Distance
Over time, the comforting smell of Matt's blue shirt, which Alice wears almost constantly, starts to fade. This mirrors the growing emotional distance caused by his long absence. Phone calls happen less often and feel more strained, filled with surface updates rather than deep connection. Alice struggles with the fact that her father is missing important parts of her life, and she worries about how much he is changing, and how much she is changing without him. This fading connection makes her feel more lonely and unsure about their future relationship.
A Difficult Conversation and Unspoken Fears
Alice's worries about her father's safety grow, leading to a hard and emotional talk with her mother, Angie. Alice wants to know if Matt is truly safe, asking her mother for honest answers about war. Angie, trying to protect her daughters, struggles to give comfort while dealing with her own fears. This talk shows the unspoken worries in their home and makes both Alice and Angie face the harsh possibilities of Matt's deployment, further solidifying their shared, though often unspoken, burden.
The Community's Support and Enduring Hope
During Matt's deployment, the small town community helps the Bliss family. Neighbors bring food, help with house repairs, and offer emotional comfort. This collective care shows how strong a community can be and how important it is to help each other during hard times. While Alice often feels her grief is unique, the support reminds her that she is not alone and that many people care deeply for her family. This community strength helps Alice and her family through the long period of uncertainty.
Anticipation of Return and Lingering Doubts
As Matt's deployment ends, Alice feels a mix of excitement and worry. She wants him to come back, imagining their reunion and their family being whole again. However, a part of her also fears how much they have all changed. She has grown into a young woman, experiencing first love and new independence, while he has gone through the trauma of war. She wonders if they can go back to how things were, or if the gap created by his absence will be too wide to close. The anticipation is clear, but so are the doubts about the future.
Matt's Return and The New Normal
Matt finally comes home from Iraq. The reunion is emotional, but also marked by the unspoken changes in everyone. Alice is very happy to have her father back, but soon realizes that he is not entirely the same man who left. He carries the invisible scars of war, and their once easy bond needs careful rebuilding. The family must learn to live with this 'new normal,' adapting to Matt's presence and the ways each of them has changed during his absence. It is a journey of rediscovery and healing for the entire Bliss family.
Principal Figures
Alice Bliss
The Protagonist
Alice transforms from a dependent child into an independent young woman, learning to find her own identity and strength amidst profound loss and change.
Matt Bliss
The Supporting
Matt's physical absence forces his family to grow, and his return requires him to reintegrate and heal, both individually and within his family.
Angie Bliss
The Supporting
Angie learns to cope with profound uncertainty and take on increased responsibilities, becoming a stronger, more independent woman.
Ellie Bliss
The Supporting
Ellie experiences the effects of her father's absence and return from a younger perspective, gradually adjusting to the new family dynamic.
Jake
The Supporting
Jake serves as a catalyst for Alice's romantic awakening and provides a stable, supportive presence during a tumultuous period in her life.
Sarah
The Supporting
Sarah's character primarily supports Alice's journey, providing a relatable peer perspective on adolescence.
Coach Davies
The Supporting
Coach Davies provides mentorship and a positive influence, helping Alice develop new skills and self-esteem.
Mr. Henderson
The Mentioned
Mr. Henderson's role is static, serving as a symbol of community support.
Themes & Insights
Identity and Self-Discovery
Alice's journey is about finding out who she is without her father. His deployment makes her create her own path, developing new interests like running track and experiencing first love. She learns to rely on her own strength and handle adolescence and grief at the same time. The fading smell of her father's shirt shows her letting go of an old identity and taking on a new, independent self.
“The smell of Matt was starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday...”
Love and Its Many Forms
The novel explores different kinds of love: the strong bond between a father and daughter, the complex love between a teenage girl and her mother, the innocent joy of first romantic love, and the lasting love and support of a small-town community. Each kind of love gives Alice strength, comfort, or challenges, shaping how she understands human connection during a very uncertain time. Her love for her absent father stays a constant, driving force.
“Alice idolizes her father, loves working beside him in their garden, accompanying him on the occasional roofing job, playing baseball.”
Absence and Loss
The main theme is the big effect of absence, specifically Matt's deployment, on Alice and her family. The story looks at not just the emotional grief of his physical absence but also the loss of shared experiences, future plans, and a feeling of safety. Alice constantly deals with the empty space left behind, learning to live with a constant feeling of longing and the fear of permanent loss. The fading smell of his shirt is a clear sign of this ongoing process of loss.
“When he ships out, Alice is faced with finding a way to fill the emptiness he has left behind.”
Resilience and Coming of Age in Wartime
Alice's story shows the strength of people and communities facing wartime worries. She grows from a dependent child into a brave young woman, handling typical teenage events like learning to drive, joining the track team, and going to her first dance, all while carrying the emotional weight of her father's deployment. The novel shows how children in military families have to grow up fast and find strength in unexpected places, proving they can adapt and endure.
“Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.”
Family Dynamics and Change
Matt's deployment greatly changes the Bliss family. Alice takes on more responsibility, especially for Ellie, and her relationship with her mother, Angie, becomes more complicated as they both deal with their own grief and shared problems. The family learns to function in a new way, and Matt's eventual return requires another period of adjustment, as they all deal with how they have changed and how to rebuild their connections in a 'new normal.'
“Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie.”
Plot Devices & Literary Techniques
The Blue Work Shirt
A tangible symbol of Matt's presence and Alice's grief.
Matt's blue work shirt serves as a powerful symbol throughout the novel. Initially, it is a tangible connection to her father, worn by Alice for comfort and to preserve his scent. As the scent fades, the shirt symbolizes the growing distance and the gradual, painful process of Alice having to let go and adapt to his absence. It represents her longing, her memory, and her slow transition from dependence to independence. The shirt is a constant, silent reminder of what she has lost and what she is waiting to regain.
Running Track
A metaphor for Alice's internal journey and a means of coping.
Alice's involvement in the track team, particularly her running the mile, functions as a powerful metaphor for her emotional and personal journey. The physical exertion and discipline of running provide an outlet for her grief and anxiety, allowing her to channel her restless energy. It also symbolizes her forward momentum, her ability to keep moving despite the challenges, and her burgeoning independence. Running becomes a way for her to find strength and a sense of self outside of her family's struggles.
First Love (Jake)
A symbol of normalcy and a catalyst for Alice's coming-of-age.
Alice's first romantic relationship with Jake serves as a significant plot device, providing a contrast to the heavy themes of war and absence. It symbolizes the normal rites of passage during adolescence that Alice experiences despite the extraordinary circumstances. Jake offers Alice a source of comfort, distraction, and a new kind of emotional connection, marking a crucial step in her journey of self-discovery and helping her navigate the complexities of growing up.
Small-Town Community
A collective character providing support and embodying resilience.
The small-town community acts as a crucial plot device, almost a collective character, that provides a vital support system for the Bliss family. Through acts of kindness like bringing meals, helping with repairs, and offering emotional solace, the community demonstrates the power of solidarity and mutual care in times of crisis. This network of support underscores the theme of collective resilience and helps to sustain Alice and her family through the prolonged uncertainty of Matt's deployment, preventing them from feeling isolated.
Critical analysis
Notable Quotes
“Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is just keep breathing.”
— Alice reflecting on coping with her father's deployment.
“I miss him in my bones.”
— Alice describing the depth of her longing for her father.
“Gardening is a kind of faith.”
— Alice tending to the garden her father left behind.
“You don't get to choose what happens to you, but you do get to choose how you respond.”
— Alice learning to navigate her changed world.
“Home isn't a place, it's the people who love you.”
— Alice realizing the meaning of home in her father's absence.
“The silence between us is so loud it hurts.”
— Alice struggling to communicate with her mother.
“I keep expecting him to walk through the door, even though I know he won't.”
— Alice grappling with the reality of her father's absence.
“We're all just doing the best we can with what we've got.”
— Alice's grandmother offering perspective on family struggles.
“Sometimes you have to let people help you, even when you don't want to.”
— Alice learning to accept support from friends and family.
“The garden is my father's love letter to us.”
— Alice finding solace in the garden her father cultivated.
“I'm not the same person I was before he left.”
— Alice acknowledging how her father's deployment changed her.
“Waiting is its own kind of torture.”
— Alice describing the agony of awaiting news about her father.
“We carry the people we love with us, even when they're gone.”
— Alice finding comfort in memories of her father.
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Key Questions (FAQ)
'Alice Bliss' follows 15-year-old Alice as she navigates adolescence while her father Matt is deployed to Iraq. The novel chronicles her coming-of-age through milestones like learning to drive, joining the track team, and experiencing first love, all while coping with her father's absence and supporting her mother Angie and younger sister Ellie.
About the author
Biography coming soon.
