Malvina is thirteen years old. She and her best friend, Lizzy, have taken over an abandoned villa, raised a pirate flag and waged war on the boys from the local estate. This is Malvina's story about last summer, but she has another story that's intertwined, a story she's ashamed of.

She can't quite tell it yet, not to anyone, not even to Lizzy, or her big brother Paul.

But Granddad knows her secret; he says it's just between them and no one else would understand. And then Malvina meets a boy. A boy she can trust; a boy she thinks she could fall in love with.

But first she needs to learn how to scream!