No Way Am I Living With Her!

Suzy's Dad was killed in a car crash five years ago and her mechanism for coping with his death has been to write regularly to him in order to continue to include him in her life. Her letters of late have been full of the news of her mother's remarriage and the consequent addition of two stepsisters - Indie and Affie - to the family. Despite their best efforts, Affie is resolutely uncommunicative and uncooperative and matters come to a head between her and Suzy. However, Suzy realises that Affie - for all her trappings of wealth - has none of the steady, uncomplicated love and closeness which she, Suzy, experiences within the circle of her family and friends and that Affie's isolation leads to her being bullied on the bus home from school. With the help of a triumvirate of wise women - her mother, aunt and best friend - Suzy is able to form a relationship with Affie and view her situation with compassion and understanding. There are sub-texts here, too - Suzy's male cousin's loutish behaviour as puberty arrives on the scene and the management of anger and grief. All are contained within the parameters of an entertaining, thoughtful story, sensitively told and likely to appeal to very many teenage girls who will recognise their own worries and preoccupations within its pages.