eing sixteen is hard for anyone, but for Rosie Rushton's three characters there are added terrors. Lyall knows that his foster parents don't want him any more. He is filled with guilt, anger, grief and confusion as he relives his abandonment by his birth mother and the death of his little sister who was left alone in his care when he was a seven year old. Jay, bullied at school, lives with his grandmother whose behaviour, always eccentric, is now becoming increasingly and dangerously erratic. He doesn't realize that she has Alzheimer's, but knows he must prevent anyone discovering his situation at home for fear of being put into care. On the surface, Fiona seems to have everything, all supplied by her rich, famous parents, but they are in crisis - her father publicly unfaithful, her mother resenting both him and her unplanned past : Fiona herself. Desperate for affection, she thinks she has found true love...

Gradually interweaving their stories, Rosie Rushton shows how all three struggle against their situations. In their individual lives, each experiences abandonment, physically and, especially devastating, emotionally. This is a novel of distinction, whose characterization has verisimilitude, depth and poignancy. Throughout, the teenage protagonists are fighting for their sanity in situations which are largely beyond their control but for which they feel responsibility. The climax, in which all three are drawn to the town fair, externalizes their conflict to that of a fight for their lives, which itself ultimately offers a cathartic resolution for each.

Although each character faces extreme life situations, readers of Key Stage 3 and above will find much with which to identify emotionally. In addition to her treatment of the onset of Alzheimer's, Rosie Rushton's informed and uncompromising portrayal of self-imposed guilt, betrayal and emotional abandonment offers a wealth of stimuli for PSHE work.

2008-01-08