Drawing With Light by Julia Green.
Julia was my head tutor on my Masters degree and the driving force behind my love of writing young adult fiction. She is a beautiful writer and so I knew I would love Drawing With Light…
Kat and Emily have grown up without their mother for almost as long as they can remember. And now Dad is with Cassy and they all muddle along together well enough - even though they are living in a cramped caravan while their new house is being renovated. Then Cassy and Dad tell them that Cassy is pregnant, and everything seems to shift. Emily feels a new urge to find her own mother. How could she have left them the way she did? Never writing to them? Not communicating with them? And as Emily begins her search, not knowing what she will find, she is at the same time embarking on a new relationship of her own, that of her romance with Seb. This is an evocative and finely drawn novel about family relationships, in particular that of mother and daughter, and the shifting emotions of a teenager trying to make sense of her family and her world.
Well, she didn’t let me down!
Wonderfully written, Green’s narrative wraps you up and carries you through Emilys world as it shifts, changes and grows. It’s a novel about first love, family and being who you are.
Read it.
VJ x
Book 68 of 75.
So I just learned that someone I don’t know, but know of because of friends who were friends with her, died very recently.
I’m not quite sure how recently, but she was posting on facebook until last week and now her page is full of a flood of ‘goodbyes’ that started about 9 hours ago.
.
.
.
It’s strange to think of how life and death touch hoards of people in ripples like that. I’ve probably met miss Julia, but she doesn’t really stand out in my memory. Still, I feel her death acutely in how it affects, and is going to affect, my friends.
Taking Flight by Julia Green
I said in my last video blog that I was about to start Breathing Underwater by Julia Green which was total rubbish because I’ve already read it!
This is the book I meant, a beautiful short story that I read last night…
“Taking Flight” is a story about love, loss and dealing with death. Luke goes to see his grandpa every day after school. He likes it there, and especially enjoys helping with Grandpa’s pigeons. But Grandpa gets sick and muddled and needs more than Luke’s help. When he goes into hospital, events take a turn for the worse and suddenly Luke has to grow up very fast…
This story is probably less that three thousand words long but it packs massive emotional punch and manages to weave together not just the main storyline but several minor ones as well.
This is why Julia is such a hero of mine and one of my all time favourite authors.
5/5
VJ x
Book 24 of 50.
