YOUNG ADULT
THE YEAR OF THE RAT by Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster £12.99 £11.49)
THIS impressive and moving debut novel touches upon grand themes of death, loyalty, truth and love but in such an accessible way that it deserves more than one reading to appreciate its depth.
Sixteen-year- old Pearl is left reeling from the death of her vivacious mother during the birth of premature baby Rose, whom Pearl resentfully labels ‘The Rat’.
Consumed with grief, she turns inwards, shunning her best friend, adoring stepfather and bossy grandmother. The ‘ghost’ of her mother visits to help her through the first year and to teach her that life, and people, are full of flaws and secrets. The rawness, isolation and exhausting confusion of Pearl’s grief has real emotional integrity, but there’s blossoming adolescent love and dry humour to light the way forward.
ECHO BOY by Matt Haig (Bodley Head £12.99
I CONFESS that the uneven quality of so many teen dystopian novels induces a weariness and wariness in me, but this nightmare vision of the world in 2115 has some cracking ideas.
Audrey lives with her parents and a sophisticated Echo — a human- l i ke r obot — who suddenly stabs both her parents to death. Audrey escapes to live with her estranged billionaire uncle, who controls an Echo technology empire (but also visits her grandmother on the moon) where she meets a mutant Echo boy. The thrilling plot is one of betrayal, power and greed, but the theme is what makes us human — and at what cost we ignore it.
Haig’s subtle humour about the future, where all the things we hold sacred (gyms, low-fat diets etc) have been discredited, nods towards classics such as 1984 and Brave New World, but al so touches tenderly on awakening love.
I predict a sequel . . .
GOOSE by Dawn O’Porter (Hot Key Books £7.99 £7.49)
O’PORTER’S debut novel Paper Aeroplanes was a massive success, drawing, in part, on her own experiences of losing her mother aged just seven. She now takes up the story of central characters Renee and Flo at the age of 18, on the brink of going to university. Renee, however, pulls away from Flo’s kind but controlling influence as she struggles to assert her independence: dabbling dangerously with an older, manipulative lover, drinking too much and risking her own safety.
Flo, in parallel, finds security and comfort in the church as her home life spirals out of control.
There’s lots of explicit sex scenes but nothing older teens won’t be familiar with from TV, and the story is underpinned by an overwhelmingly positive message about discovering yourself and following your own path t hat will be hugely reassuring to girls.