How to be Normal
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the inaugural Walker Books Manuscript Prize. With themes including coercive control, coming of age, and finding yourself, this debut authentically deals with timely issues with insight, sympathy and well crafted humour.
Astrid is about to start her last year at high school. And her first.
When her dad loses his job, Astrid’s homeschooling comes to an end. Until now, she has lived within the confines of a tightly controlled, contracted world where there's no room for anything … except following her father’s rules and pretending that everything is normal.
As Astrid, and her mum, tentatively expand their world, they struggle to break free of their ingrained wariness and self-doubt. But with hope, new friends, and the strength of a promise, Astrid has a chance to find out what she wants, who she loves, and who she really is.
Winner of the inaugural Walker Books Manuscript Prize, this is a brilliantly written YA debut that deftly explores timely issues with insight, humour and pathos.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An undercurrent of hope powers a fraught plot that probes subjects surrounding domestic coercive control in Crawford's gritty debut. Having been homeschooled by her mother for the majority of her life, Australian 17-year-old Astrid experiences her first day of public school six months before graduation after her controlling father loses his job, forcing her mother to return to work. Though Astrid is excited, she's also embarrassed by her lack of experience socializing with people her age. While adjusting to high school life, she soon befriends a classmate who shares her passion for music and develops a crush on a free-spirited peer. But Astrid's instinct to lie about her excessively strict home life keeps them at a distance. Her idle musings about living a "normal, boring" life seem poised to become reality when she discovers her mother's covert plot to free them both from Astrid's father's acerbic personality and unchecked anger. Immediate-feeling first-person narration from Astrid perceptively details her profound feelings of alienation from her peers and tightly wound wariness at home, especially as the climax ramps up with thriller-like intensity. Astrid is white; supporting characters are racially diverse. Resources conclude. Ages 13–up.
