Synopsis
Carol is 16 and her friend Birdy calls her Rent-a-worry. Carol’s dad, an aspiring musician, optimistically calls himself Country Slim but can’t seem to write a song that could get him a job. Carol’s worn-out mum works in a fish factory where, harassed by her boss, she calls herself the Screaming Fishwife. Nobody calls the fourth family member, Mark, anything; he died when he was five and is not spoken of, though his ghostly presence is palpable in the way the family doesn't get on. Now Carol is writing an essay for school on The Time of My Life, and it's not easy. Sometimes she is sure of things, sometimes not. Sometimes she feels like a stranger in her own skin, sometimes like a rocket on its launching pad. Sometimes she's a daughter but sometimes she feels like a parent to her mum and dad. But most of all she just wishes that sometimes, people could really talk about what's important.