Defining Dulcie (review)

Dulcie and her mother react very differently to her janitor father's death: Dulcie wants to hold on to the past, while her mother quickly moves them all the way from Newbury, Connecticut to California. Dulcie's time in California is brief, though, since the sixteen-year-old sneaks out in the middle of the night and drives her father's old truck back across the country to Connecticut. Dulcie's cross-country road trip speeds by in just over ten pages (though some details are later provided in flashbacks), and the book focuses mainly on her return to Newbury, where she takes up residence with her grandpa, Frank, and works under him as the local school's janitorial assistant, the same job her father once had. A developing friendship with a spunky co-worker named Roxanne leads to the revelation that Roxanne is being abused, and Dulcie and her family must pull together to help Roxanne and begin to heal themselves. First-time novelist Acampora creates an authentic and humorous voice in Dulcie and offers a refreshing take on the healing process that emphasizes resiliency and laughter over melancholy. Though pacing is sometimes uneven and events a little forced, lively characters and humorous detail make the story continually engaging. Fans of Joan Bauer (whom Acampora acknowledges in an endnote) and readers struggling with their own losses will especially be drawn to Dulcie's journey down her own road.