* Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the eArc to review*

12 year old Clara living in the small town of Sycamore, believes that nothing really happens. From playing pick leaf, to eating the mangoes from her garden and playing with her best friend Gaynah, her life is relatively uneventful. Apart from the fact that she can't remember some things from the previous summer. When a new English girl Rudy turns up, Gaynah changes and is being mean to Clara, and she is forced to face the realities of what had happened the previous summer. 

This was such a beautifully written book. I adored the character of Clara, I just wanted to make her my little sister and let her know that everything was going to be alright. She's such a strong character for being 12 years old, and I really enjoyed following her around the island, and watching her go on adventures with Rudy, Gaynah and her other friends. 

The story was entertaining and heartbreaking all at once. The resolution to the story was perfect, and it made me rate this a 5 out of 5 instead of the 4 I had been considering through the entire story. 

This was my first adventure into middle grade literature and it certainly won't be my last. I'd recommend this book to everyone!

This is a delightful, gentle story that vividly conjures an image of life in the small, close-knit community of a Caribbean fishing village, where everyone knows each other.  Clara loves surfing but has not been for ages, following an incident that has left her with no memory of the previous year.  Then drama-loving, imaginative Rudy arrives from England to visit her grandmother and the two quickly become friends, to the apparent annoyance of Clara’s former best friend and cousin Gaynah.  The summer is enlivened by Rudy’s role-play games, culminating in a visit to the old house lived in by Clara’s uncle Eldorath, surrounding whom there is much mystery in the village and who is reputed to be a witch doctor.  The mystery deepens further when the reality of the man does not reflect the stories that the village children have been told.   
The sea and the vagaries of the weather play an important part in how the plot unfolds, but at its heart this is a tender story of friendships made and lost, full of well-intentioned, believable characters whose actions are determined by family love.  This is a very enjoyable book, with enough mystery and surprises to keep the reader hooked and a denouement and atmosphere that generate a warm feeling that lasts long after the reading is finished.

An incredibly powerful story of Clara and her emotional outbursts, lack of memory from the previous summer and her tumultuous relationship with cousin Gaynah.
Clara and her family live in Sycamore, on a tropical island.  Surfing, playing pick leaf and staying out of the intense heat is all part of their summer holidays. This year, something is wrong with Clara and the entire community know and urge her parents to seek help.  Over the course of the book, I speculated on what I could imagine would erase memories and the results were always sad.  As I continued to read and get to know Clara, I wanted her to share the secret, show me what happened and I wanted to help her understand.

This debut novel is stunning in setting, characters and emotions.  Highly evocative and atmospheric I could see and feel the sights of Sycamore, the banana groves, the sand and ocean and I felt a connection to this small community who stick together through good and bad.   

When a huge storm threatens the island, Clara is sent to fetch her Uncle Eldorath, the "witch doctor".  These are just rumors of course but it is he who will unlock the secrets creating the anger in Clara and teach her to overcome the hurt and guilt she is bottling up.

With tears flowing as I came to the realisation, I felt all the emotions as Clara finally let go.  The tears didn't stop until long after the ending- which causes tears for a different reason- a completely enchanting story and one which will have an everlasting effect on me.

When Life Gives You Mangoes is a beautiful read full of heart and love. It's a story about memory and confronting the past.