SALVAGE by Keren David; reviewed by Gillian Philip

Salvage comes with an alarming tagline: Not everything that’s broken can be mended. Maybe that’s what gave me a mounting sense of dread as the paths of Cass and Aidan and their bewilderingly extended families converged. Not that the tagline is the only arresting thing on the very striking cover: there’s the tattoo on the back of Aidan’s neck, the single word Hope. It’s an ineradicable symbol that begins, at one point in the story, to look like a terrible joke.

Cass and Aidan are sister and brother, separated not at birth but when they were four and six respectively. She has no memory of her birth family; he remembers too much. They’ve had upbringings as different from one another as it’s possible to imagine: she’s now the high-achieving, Oxford-bound daughter of an MP, he’s the product of a care system that has failed him – and a product is what he seems to feel like, as much as the damaged goods on sale at the salvage shop where he works. By a chance of fate and Facebook the siblings find one another, twelve years after they were separated, and arrange a meeting that will have desperately frightening consequences for them and everyone around them.

Two voices tell the story, and they’re masterfully done. Aidan is one of those characters who could so easily lose the reader’s sympathy, but Keren David has previous when it comes to damaged young men (see When I Was Joe and its sequels) and she unfolds Aidan’s complex, terrible story with subtlety and grace. She has said in this interview that she found Cass harder to write, because the girl has so little self-awareness. Is there anything more frustrating than a character so pathologically self-contained she won’t even talk to her author? (I speak from some experience, *cough*.) Well, however David managed it in the end, it works beautifully. Cass might do her damnedest to alienate the reader, but in the end she’s too human to succeed. By the halfway point I wanted the best of everything for them both, and there are no guarantees they’ll get it.

It’s not unknown for nuanced main characters to be let down by a touch of cardboard in the supporting cast. No worries here. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book where I can picture the characters so clearly, and hear their voices. For me that doesn’t come with physical description, but by that mystical process where they’re just there, suddenly, in the movie in your head. I’d single out Will and Ben as particular delights; Will’s relationship with Cass is lovely. (Cass’s father, by the way, looks like Rupert Graves. Take my word for it.) I confess, I had a tremor of doubt in the opening pages, which bring us a situation that’s almost a cliche of our times. Uh-oh, I thought: plot thread, please don’t play out like I fear you will … Oh, silly me. I shouldn’t have worried. Of course Keren David doesn’t develop a cliched situation in a cliched way.

Not everything that’s broken can be mended. True. But I’m not going to give the slightest spoilers about what does and doesn’t get fixed in this story. If you want to know – and you will – go on, read it. 

SALVAGE by Keren David: published by Atom Books

www.gillianphilip.com

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Grounded by Sheena Wilkinson reviewed by Lynda Waterhouse

Grounded is a powerful YA story. It is the sequel to Sheena’s first award winning novel, ‘Taking Flight’ but can be read, as I did, as a stand alone story. It gripped me from the first sentence and carried me along through to its shocking ending. On the cover of the book, Keren David aptly describes it ‘Compelling, heartbreaking and truly shocking.’ As such it is not recommended for younger readers.

For days after I had finished reading, images from the story kept coming into my mind, troubling me. I found myself caring about the main characters, Declan and Seaneen, and how their lives would work out. I found myself deeply disturbed by what happens to Cian. This is the mark of good storytelling.

Declan Kelly lives on a tough housing estate in Belfast with his mother, who is a recovering addict. He works at a local riding stable and hopes one day to move on to a top show jumping yard and have a horse and a career of his own. At the beginning of the book he is content to ride a friend’s horse, Flight of Fancy, and to continue his relationship with Seaneen.

‘I know that I want to stay here with her nearly as much as I want to go away. But only nearly.’

 The only annoyance in his life is the ‘skanky little urban fox’, Cian.  He is a reminder of what Declan was like when he was fifteen. Cian plagues Declan and would steal his ‘future’ (life savings) if given half a chance. Cian gets into trouble with the local drugs dealer. His wraith like presence haunts the story. The scene where he talks to Declan about having had a dog once is understated but packed with poignancy.

In Chapter Two, Declan rides Flight of Fancy in a horse show and wins the championship. He has a job offer to work at a prestigious stable abroad and is on his way. Then his life begins to unravel.

Flight of Fancy is sold and Seaneen has news: she is pregnant. Declan’s life spirals out of control. In a derelict barn he finds some abandoned horses. He rescues a foal and a horse, Folly. This could be a chance for Declan to have his own horse. Will he stuff this up as well?

The story is written with a spare style and a powerful sense of place that reminds me of Meg Rossof’s writing. The story is uncompromising in its depiction of life on the social margins but has a warmth and lightness of touch that transcends an ‘issues’ book.

 It deserves to win prizes and to be widely read. I am looking forward to the next instalment!

Grounded is published by Little Island press ISBN 978-1-908195-17-3

www.littleisland.ie

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