Always, Clementine
Written in an inventive and engaging style, this is a heartwarming, thoughtful story of a mouse named Clementine and her quest to get ‘home’ to her friend Rosie the chimp. Clementine is a laboratory mouse, genetically engineered for super-intelligence. Held in captivity and under threat of death, she manages to get free from the lab where she has lived all her life (in the company of Hamlet, a fellow lab mouse). All she wants is to ensure the freedom of the other animals in her lab, most especially Rosie.
The book in constructed as a series of imaginary letters from Clementine to Rosie, each signed off with a touching ‘Always, Clementine’. Clementine and Hamlet wind up in the home of Gus and his grandfather Kristo (known as ‘Pop’), who are quick to understand the importance of their tiny new guests. Gus and Pop are determined to protect the mice, not for any selfish or financial reason, but purely because they see Clementine and Hamlet’s individuality, and their value as creatures who love Brussels sprouts, or chewing paper, or building a scale model of Notre Dame (Hamlet), or learning how to play grandmaster-level chess at lightning speed (Clementine).
What follows is a clever and funny adventure where the mice must evade capture, discover their own potential, and find a way to bring public attention to the dangers of the lab. Always, Clementine is a gentle-hearted, important, joyful read which will appeal to Sorosiak fans and fans of animal-themed stories alike.
