After Iris
COSTA AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Being a combination of conventional diary entries and transcripts of videos shot by the author on the camera she was given for her 13th birthday, and beginning at the end of summer.
Bluebell Gadsby is 13 but that's the least of her problems. Both her parents seem more interested in their careers than the family, leaving Blue and her three siblings in the care of Zoran the au pair, as well as their three pet rats (who may or may not be pregnant). The enigmatic Joss moves in next door and Blue thinks she might be falling in love, until he takes out her older sister Flora instead (who, incidentally, is trying to make a statement by dying her hair bright pink but no one takes the blindest bit of notice). Blue thinks and feels very deeply about life but can't really talk to anyone about it, because no one in the Gadsby family wants to address the real problem - that Blue's twin sister, Iris, died a year ago, and they are all just trying to hide their grief in busyness...
So Blue turns to her diary and her unique way of seeing the world through her camcorder to express herself. A tender, funny, smart and ultimately heartwarming story.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The first title in Natasha Farrant's YA series is the perfect teen flick in book form. Thirteen-year-old Bluebell uses an inspired mix of video transcripts and diary entries to tell us that things in her life are not OK. We shed tears throughout this novel, either from laughter (cue the male au pair who resembles a character from Narnia) or sadness (thanks to heart-rending descriptions of what grief physically feels like). After Iris is a seriously moving story about a young woman’s journey.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twelve-year-old Bluebell Gadsby's family has been collapsing ever since Blue's twin sister, Iris, died three years ago. Blue's father is working on the other side of the country, and their mother is traveling overseas, which leaves new au pair Zoran in charge. Between Blue's older sister Flora's rebelliousness, her two younger siblings' antics, and the family's pet rats, which live in the garden of their London home, Zoran has his hands full. Each chapter begins with a brief transcript of video diaries filmed by quiet, lonely Blue ("My plan is to record my life through words and images"). Then 16-year-old Joss moves in next door, saving Blue's social life and becoming her first crush, which is complicated when he begins dating Flora. Literary scout Farrant, making her U.S. debut, balances Blue's growth with wry humor and light moments (as when the rats make a chaotic visit to Blue's classroom in remote-control race cars). Blue's struggles are handled with honesty, and she makes a rewarding journey from observing her life to living it again and accepting what she has lost. Ages 10 up.
