Coming of Age

Coming of age is an important theme in the novel “The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender” by Leslye Walton. Coming of age involves the personal, spiritual, moral, or emotional growth and maturation of an individual often based on real world experiences. While coming of age generally occurs among the young, teenagers, and young adults, coming of age can also occur among individuals at any age. In the novel, three characters – Ava, Viviane, and Emilienne – all come of age in some way, shape, or form.

Throughout most of the novel, Ava Lavender is at the age of 15, and is a sweet, kind, and patient girl, though she is also largely inexperienced as to the realities of the world. Her mother keeps her at home, and never allows Ava to go beyond the hill on which their house sits, for Viviane worries that Ava...