Big Dreams

A story of love dreams and betrayal great 60s bands fabulous fashion and the sexual revolution. Lily Davis is shy and anxious. Her best friend Jo Price is brimming with confidence and fearless. Tom Bennett is the boy that Jo is secretly mad about but hes fallen hopelessly in love with Lily.The friends dream of moving to Paris as soon as they finish school and live an amazing life. Only one year before they can leave and be as far away from their parents and dreary England as they can easily get.Lily dearly loves Jo and avoids Tom wanting nothing to harm their friendship or their plans. One Saturday after seeing The Kinks at the pub Jo is with Toms brother and Lily finds herself alone with Tom. That night everything changes forever!Wonderful book! An incredible story of life--being young and fancy free during the 1960s; laughter friendship pent up feelings love romance betrayal and sadness. I wasnt prepared for the flood of deep emotions. Memorable characters with personal stories worth exploring. Couldnt put it down. Julie Postance Author of Breaking the Sound BarriersTeenager Lily Davis is an anomaly in Britains era of free love and drugs: she refuses to have sex until she can begin birth control. She has plans with her best friend Jo to study science and see the world once they pass their exams. But after she meets Tom Lilys resolve falters; shes swayed by his declarations of love and her own fierce longing for intimacy. When she unsurprisingly becomes pregnant she takes her future and her self--both uncertain both damaged--into her own hands and tries to make everything right.Pamela Ann Suns greatest success in BIG DREAMS is her construction of the emotionally complex Lily whose life at home strongly influences her actions. Ever since Lily can remember her parents have treated her with disinterest and her father even sometimes hit her. Lily strives toward her goals despite their apathy and her quiet trauma paints a portrait of abuse more horrifying than even the most graphic depiction of violence. Lily seems to fear her fathers wrath as much as the pause that the baby puts on her hopes for a future of travel and a career. Female readers of this novel whether they grew up in the 1960s or are just coming of age today can instantly relate to Lilys dreams to be someone to go places to experience life without being tied down by a family or societal expectations. Where Sun falters is in the portrayal of Lilys relationships with those outside her family: How could Tom fall so in love so quickly? Why would Jo act maliciously after previously accepting Lilys relationship with Tom?Another win for BIG DREAMS is its boisterous setting. For those who grew up in the 60s especially in England BIG DREAMS will surely be a blast from the past. Sun retains the integrity of the time period with references to then up-and-coming bands like the Kinks and popular TV shows like Dr. Who. Her characters speech patterns are authentic; the books diction is spot on with just enough Englishness to sound real. Vivid imagery and countless details build up each scene and setting right down to the clothing Lily wears--and the way it changes as Lily herself transforms throughout the book. Chapter by chapter Sun builds us up for an intense conclusion in which something that seemed so ordinary turns out to be the biggest dream of all. Christina Doka for IndieReader