Monday 22 February 2016

Review: What a Way to Go by Julia Forster

What a Way to Go by Julia Forster
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Release date: 7 January 2016
Rating: ****
Back cover blurb: 1988. 12-year-old Harper Richardson's parents are divorced. Her mum got custody of her, the Mini, and five hundred tins of baked beans. Her dad got a mouldering cottage in a Midlands backwater village and default membership of the Lone Rangers single parents' club. Harper got questionable dress sense, a zest for life, two gerbils, and her Chambers dictionary, and the responsibility of fixing her parents' broken hearts. Set against a backdrop of high hairdos and higher interest rates, pop music and puberty, divorce and death, What a Way to Go is a warm, wise and witty tale of one girl tackling the business of growing up while those around her try not to fall apart.


 
What a Way to Go is a wonderful homage to the 1980s. The decade that fashion most certainly forgot.

Harper Richardson is 12 years old when her Mum invites Kit to live with them.

After the breakdown of her parents marriage, Harper is already feeling different to her friends, in particular her best friend Cassie whose family can afford holidays abroad and private school fees (for Cassie's sister). 

Harper's father is struggling in a mouldy cottage in the middle of nowhere, dragging Harper along to Lone Rangers singles club (which she secretly enjoys)

Then Harper meets a BOY and everything changes.

Suddenly the world isn't all about grown ups and their problems, it is very much about teenagers and their problems!

Set against a wonderful backdrop of 80s music and fashion, What a Way to Go is a beautifully written coming of age story and I hope to read more from this author.

What a Way to Go is available now from  Amazon online and all good book shops.
 
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Thank you to the Curtis Brown Book Group who sent me an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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