The first true lie - Marina Mander

'They always tell you that you shouldn't tell lies, but without lies I'd already be in an orphanage.
This, in any case, is my first true lie'

Luca and his mum are like two peas in a pod in their special, fragile world.

Then, one winter morning his mother doesn't wake up. Luca suddenly finds himself alone for the first time. Terrified of what telling the truth might bring, he decides to keep the biggest secret of his life. Luca goes along to school every day, pretending everything is as it always has been. But he returns home every night to a cold, dark house. So he begins to build a protective bubble with the memories of his mother, the words and stories he so loves - and his cat Blue - against the truth on the other side of the bedroom door.