A Library of Lemons

Calypso’s mother has died and her father has buried himself in his work. So much so that there’s hardly ever food in the house, the rooms are dark and dusty and Calypso can come home from school and not even be noticed. Even worse, she’s absorbed her father’s belief in going it alone - through hard times - so much that, when new girl Mae tries to make friends at school, Calypso just buries her head in a book and ignores her.

If I say this is a beautifully written description of grief, and how those grieving can find their way back to happiness, it’s not to put readers off. It’s to say how cleverly, how lightly, Jo Cotterill tiptoes through sadness, frustration and loneliness to bring the reader out into the sunlight of new friends and possibilities. And she does it all in the totally believable, very readable words of a ten-year-old girl (sorry, ten and a half!).

It’s no superficial journey, though. There are hiccoughs along the way and as many falls back down a snake as there are climbs up a ladder. And there’s a revelation at the halfway point that made me – literally – catch my breath and stop reading.

I absolutely adored this book.