Scarlet’s mum has moved out, and taken Scarlet with her. Of course, no-one is telling Scarlet the whole story. Is she expected to just accept this massive upheaval to her life without complaint? The adults in her life seem outraged if she expresses even the smallest amount of dissatisfaction or even curiosity. They’re treating her like a little kid, and she’s got every right to be angry. Fuming, in fact. At least, that’s how it feels to her.

Anne Fine portrays the experience of being a young teenager so well it hurts. You can’t help but sympathise with Scarlet at all stages of her development from being really quite belligerently selfish (understandably, perhaps) to a mature and compassionate young woman. Accompanying Scarlet on her journey would be really helpful to many young people trying to process their own emotions in similar situations, and would build empathy and emotional literacy in all readers.

Anne Fine has been writing now for quite a long time, and the confidence and skill show. I did find some of the idioms used slightly old-fashioned, but on balance I much prefer that to novels that try too hard to use all the latest slang. Reading this latest book reminded me how ahead of her time she was when it was only her writing books like this!

(review by Tim)