"You're Pretty When You Smile" is a poetic memoir written about the relationships between, a grandmother, a granddaughter and her mother. At times sad, other times happy, the relationships prove complex as the secrets of the grandmother are uncovered, later the secrets of the granddaughter are ones to be kept at all costs. The book is about the danger of keeping secrets and the freedom experienced when they are released. Many of the stories are ones readers can identify with, at least parts of them, but the journey the writer takes is one that leaps into uncharted territory. The lesson in these poems is that there is always hope, there is always a place to go, and there are people waiting for us who will help us along the path. Nothing is beyond belief. Life can be "the blue ordinariness of the unthinkable", a dress, "sky blue pink" or a grandmother Cynthia who is not called by any other name and is always there when you need her.