If Marlowe’s wants don’t align with her own, her mom will just ignore Marlowe. The selfish behavior Marlowe’s mother indulges in also goes unremarked upon. However, Marlowe and Leo’s rivalry is a little too antagonistic for me to be convinced. Much like Plozza’s previous novel Frankie, the romance in Tin Heart is built out of a half-serious antagonism that conceals the couple’s true feelings. I also adore Marlowe’s new too-cool friend Zan, a Chinese Australian lesbian who isn’t having it when Marlowe gets into some bull. I do know that her younger brother Pip seems younger than eleven years old since his way to cope with his sister’s condition was to design outrageous costumes so she’ll laugh or smile. If it’s normal to fixate on finding your donor and their family like Marlowe does, I just wouldn’t know. Some of her classmates are bullying her over the transplant, she’s trying to find the family of her heart’s original owner, and her mom’s fight with the butcher next door leads Marlowe into her own rivalry with the butcher’s son/apprentice.Īs I’ve been the recipient of a donated organ or even donated one of my lesser organs, there’s simply no way for me to understand what it’s like. Not that it’s doing much to make life easier other than keeping her alive. Marlowe has spent much of her life living on the edge of death thanks to a congenital heart defect, but she’s got a new lease on life thanks to a heart suddenly becoming available.

Frankie by Shivaun Plozza