DEAR NOBODY by Berlie Doherty. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

   Published in 1991, this Carnegie-winning novel centres on two talented, ambitious young people in love, on the brink of adult life and about to go to separate universities - and how they feel when they realise that their one act of lovemaking has resulted in pregnancy.

   A story like this has a built-in momentum. It takes us through Helen's instinctive denial, followed by growing anxiety, the pregnancy test, and her admission of the truth to herself - and to her boyfriend, Chris.

   Romantic, loving Chris is determined to stay with Helen. Neither of them really thinks through how they can do this. As the pregnancy advances Helen becomes increasingly desperate. She even puts herself in danger in an attempt to abort the pregnancy, but fails. Once her mother realises the truth, events move fast. Helen finds herself being pushed into an unwanted abortion - and yet she is also in despair at the thought of giving up her university place.

   Meanwhile Chris, on holiday abroad with a school friend, is distracted in other ways.

   The complex family situations are detailed and convincing. Every character is rounded, and all develop and change during the course of the story. And when the resolution comes, it feels inevitable and exactly right.

   This is a strong, engrossing story about a common dilemma that has no right or wrong answers, only the natural confusion of people's lives. I'd read it years ago, but - probably because it's so real and true to life - I couldn't remember exactly how it ended. And I certainly couldn't put it down!

   I hope young teens are still reading this story, because this is one situation that will never feel dated.


Available in paperback in several editions by different publishers. The one shown is my own copy,  from Lion Tracks (Harper Collins).

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BLUE JOHN by Berlie Doherty Reviewed by Adèle Geras

I very often  have to start my reviews with the disclosure that I know the writer.  In this case, it's even worse. Not only is Berlie Doherty a very old friend, I've also been published by Barrington Stoke, albeit a long time ago. 

They are a ground-breaking company, dedicated to making things easier for those with reading problems, such as dyslexia.  In the late 90s, their books with their characteristic off-white pages and clear type, together with stories that didn't lose in excitement from being simply written, were like a breath of fresh air. 

They've broadened their output in the last few years and this book is one of a series called LITTLE GEMS. I remember BLUE JOHN as a picture book, long ago, but I've forgotten the details of the text so can't say exactly how much it's been changed it for this edition.

What remains is the story, which is a wonderfully evocative and poetic text, about a kingdom of darkness where the Queen makes a son out of the blue of the glacier and the gold of the sun. She calls him Blue John. As he grows, he wants, as all sons want, more than just his mother's love and the darkness he's been accustomed to. When he sees children exploring the caves, and meets a girl with a moss green ribbon in her hair, he is entranced and they dance together before the Queen of Darkness discovers them and calls him home. 

She takes him back to the cave and rocks him in her arms: 
"...she hummed a song that was like the murmur of ice stretching in sunlight. She rocked him in her quiet arms. Soon the deep sleep of her enchantment washed over him. His eyes closed and the purple-blue of their colour seeped into the stones. The golden yellow of his hair poured like the light of the sun down the walls of the cavern."

The girl comes looking for her dance partner but cannot find him. She goes into the cave and finds instead a blue and yellow stone,  and takes it for herself. She can feel something like a heart beating in it and recognises her friend in what she's holding in her hand. 

There is, of course, a real mineral called Blue John and Doherty has given a simple and beautiful reason both for the way it looks and for its very existence. There's also a factual note about it printed on inside of the back cover. 

The illustrations are simple and striking and add to the beautifully-written story in an interesting way. 

I think this will be a very welcome addition to many bookshelves and I recommend it for anyone who likes folk tales and legends. 

Pub in pbk by Barrington Stoke Little Gems.
ISBN: 9781781125786

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MIXED FEELINGS, edited by Miriam Hodgson. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

This collection of short stories about mothers and daughters was first published in 1992 and is still just as lively and relevant today, despite the absence of such things as mobile phones and selfies.

The themes are timeless. Ten favourite authors explore those early teenage years when girls grow up quickly, to the alarm of their mothers, and begin to form their own ideas and tug at the constraints of home.

In Anne Fine's opening story, the unnamed narrator begs her mother for a story she's heard many times before: how her mother came to be born. It's a brilliantly funny and involving story that tells much in a few pages, and it touches on the timeless themes that echo throughout the book: birth, first love, independence, finding out who you are and where you came from, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.

Here we have rebellious daughters (from the first nudges of independence shown by Berlie Doherty's Jenny to the desperate struggle of Jamila Gavin's Nasreen), unconventional and embarrassing mothers, schoolfriends, boyfriends, people in the workplace. Above all there is the tension between the powerful urge to fly the nest and the pull of home.

The authors are Anne Fine, Berlie Doherty, Vivien Alcock, Jamila Gavin, Marjorie Darke, Gwen Grant, Annie Dalton, Monica Hughes, Jean Ure and Jacqueline Wilson. All great storytellers - and the book is still in print!

Mammoth, 1997.


www.annturnbull.com



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HAPPY CHRISTMAS and THE COMPANY OF GHOSTS by Berlie Doherty, reviewed by Adele Geras.

With this review of a wonderfully seasonal book, Awfully Big Review pauses for a while. Thank you for reading our 2013 reviews - and we will be back with more on the First of January 2014. A happy holiday to you all! 


Meanwhile, from Adele Geras . . . 

THE COMPANY OF GHOSTS by Berlie Doherty
 

A new novel from Berlie Doherty is always something to look forward to and yet again I have to offer a disclaimer. This writer, like so many of those I review on this website, is a friend of mine and I’m sorry about that, but if I had to avoid books by people I know, I’d be very hamstrung in the matter of reviewing and would scarcely ever be able to do it. As it is, showing good new books to readers who might otherwise miss them is something I regard as one of my main functions as a critic.

This is a ghost story and I love ghost stories, so I seized on it when it came through my door. Doherty has opted for a particular kind of tale. There are no big old houses here with creaking doors; no graveyards, no rattling chains and indeed most of the accoutrements of the traditional story are absent and instead we have an idyllic (in many ways) island off the Scottish coast and a teenager marooned there all by herself.

Ellie is running away from an unpleasant situation at home when she accepts an invitation from Morag, whom she scarcely knows, to spend some time on the island. This place is deserted. Morag’s family spend holidays there in a very basic dwelling and there’s a disused lighthouse but apart from that, nothing. It’s reached by boat, and that is an erratic sort of service, down to the availability of a local fisherman.  Circumstances combine to leave Ellie alone there for what she thinks will be only a short time but which, terrifiyingly, extends and extends until we realize, gradually, that through various accidents, no one is going to come and rescue her. She is on her own, having to cope, desperately scared at times and trying to be sensible and brave in really scary circumstances.

 
This would be bad enough, but of course, we know from the title that Ellie is not alone…..there is the ghost. The way Doherty introduces this spectre, the way the supernatural is interwoven with the natural is both spine chilling and lyrical. She specializes in wonderful descriptions of nature and in this case, because our heroine is an artistic child, of her paintings as well. Ellie writes letters to her father, who, in her opinion, has deserted her family to go off to Cornwall on his own leaving her mother to marry someone else and these letters, interspersed with what’s happening on the mainland to George, Morag’s brother, who, through no fault of his own, has failed to arrange Ellie’s rescue, both ease the tension on the island and also rachet it up a few notches as the novel progresses.

The story of the ghost turns out to be a love story, and towards the end, we sense that Ellie’s narrative, too may be moving in that direction….

This is a book full of  moments of really creepy suspense and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants something both unusual and romantic and set in a landscape which is at the same time threatening and very beautiful. It’s a well-written, intriguing and often genuinely scary story, just right for Christmas.

Publisher: Andersen Press  

Price: £6.99 (pbk)

ISBN: 9781849397292

Reviewer:       Adèle Geras

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