Learning to Scream

Malvina is a happy, normal thirteen-year-old. She plays in the nearby abandoned villa with her best friend, and taunts the boys from the estate who go there too. One of the boys is persistent in his pursuit of her, and inadvertently stumbles across her secret. She is the one who has to take meals to her recently widowed grandfather, and when he follows her on his bike, he realises that something is wrong. Her grandfather is very physically affectionate to her, but he touches her in places she dislikes, and his kisses to her are long and lingering. It is a long journey of developing trust and self-belief for her to grow enough to tell people what is really happening. She isn't a fussy teenager as her parents think: she needs adults to listen and take her seriously, and stop her grandfather.