Perspectives can be different according to the point of view.
In "If she had only said sorry", a personal perspective on the world is the one that counts while interwoven with a reality that seems to be totally different.

Sam is a young girl whose mother died to give birth to her. She lives on an island with her father, who is seriously ill, and her sister who just hates her apparently because she sees her as the cause of the death of their mother.

From page one of this book by Candy Adderley, Sam tells how she has murdered her sister but has she really? The answer is not totally given or at least Sam herself is not sure. The plot occurs in a short slot of time, but continuous digressions, about the two sister’s lives, fills it in and gives a deep idea of their minds.

Lack of love and understanding are the reasons why Sam is not able to react to her sister’s actions toward her, her harassing. She feels humiliated by her incapacity of raising her head but she just keeps on it until it is really not possible anymore to remain motionless. That’s the moment when her fears come outside herself, materialising possibly in a dream or in a parallel reality so that she is forced to confront them and her sister.

This is a moving story into a young girl’s life and her mental disorders caused by having spent her whole life with a domineering sister and an ill father who needs help but cannot give help to her daughter. When she gets to the end of it, she just can’t see what’s real and what’s not.

Adderley’s ability is not only in the building of the story itself but also in the background she creates for it, in the feelings transmitted by her words to interpret her inner fears and visions. A veil of mystery, of something not clearly understood dominates the novel.

Candy Adderley, at her first attempt as a writer, creates this island where life seems to be half a dream and half true. Her words describe calmly what lies in Sam’s mind and keep a sort of gap between reality and dream, or maybe a reality altered by inner thoughts not always responding to the very truth.

A touching novel, that leaves the reader with a sense of wondering and questions about the mechanisms by which our mind works.