Reading Skywards – Your Friendly Bookshelf

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher ‏ : ‎S&S/Summit Books
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 14, 2026
Format: Hardcovers, Paperback, audiobook, and ebook
Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
Genre:  Literary Fiction

MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “PORCUPINES” by Fran Fabriczki

I picked this book from the potential ARCs available at Net Galley. I picked the book because of the title and the premise, and also because it was a debut. I read it with my ebook reader, Kobo.

This was a solid, good read, especially the first half of the book. It was funny, tender, entertaining, and very vivid. I enjoyed the relationship between mother and daughter, and I have to admit I saw bits of myself within the mother’s character. I think Sonia (the mother) journey to America was really nicely done, from her time in America with her diplomatic father, and her return to be with her sister’s new family, and ending with her decision to stay in America undocumented.

The second half of the book was, at times, slow. The story became a bit repetitive, and I got a bit bored. But the story was touching, tender, full of love and resilience. Sonia showed how strong we can be by just living one day at a time with the goal of making them the best we can. I liked the end, it was soothing and full of hope, hope for both mother and daughter.

Highly entertaining, funny, tender, and packed with hope and resilience.

PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:

Sonia is a Hungarian immigrant who is raising her daughter, Mila—her beloved Milosh—on her own in sunny Los Angeles. Her days are a blur of not-quite-illegal business activities, dodging PTA moms, and baking birthday cakes laced with rum—minor mistakes that nevertheless continually remind her of everything she doesn’t understand about America and parenthood. Mila, meanwhile, is juggling violin and swimming lessons and navigating the treacherous social politics of school with the help of a less-than-helpful guidebook on how to be cool in the sixth grade—all the while trying to get her secretive mother to share something, anything, about her past.

Sonia is sure that their bond, stitched from drive-through dinners, extracurricular activities, and a lot of exasperated affection for each other—will be enough to satisfy her daughter. But her guarded lifestyle has left Mila lonely, isolated, and ready to write herself into a bigger story. When she stumbles across emails between her mother and a man she’s never met, Mila decides to take matters into her own hands and forms a plan that will implode their carefully constructed lives.

MY RATING: 4.0

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bibliography:

Fran Fabriczki was born in Budapest, grew up in Los Angeles and lives in London. She read English at the University of Cambridge and worked in publishing for several years before going freelance to focus on her own writing. She graduated from the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing MA in 2022 and received the Curtis Brown Award for her dissertation. Porcupines is her debut novel.