Well, in comparison to the last book I read which I struggled through in over a week, this wonder of a novel took me just under a couple of days, and I missed it when I wasn't reading it. If you liked We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, or Solitaire by Alice Oseman, then I think you'll love this.
Jam (short for Jamaica) is a teenager with troubles. Her boyfriend of 41 days, English exchange student Reeve, has died. He was the love of her life, he filled her days and nights. Now he's gone and she's reached the depths of despair. She cannot get over her loss. So much so that her parents feel the only way they, and she, can cope is to send her to The Wooden Barn, a special boarding school for fragile teenagers. She is chosen as one of 5 students to take part in Special Topics in English, where their wonderful teacher, the kind and elderly Mrs Quenell, hopes they can work through their troubles through studying texts. Their text is Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Mrs Quenell also gives each of them a journal which they must fill in as often as they can, and then hand it in at the end of term. It turns out that writing in the journal gives the students solace and comfort in more ways than they can imagine, and Belzhar (with the 'zh' pronounced as in Dr Zhivago) is born.
I just loved everything about this book - the characters, the plot, the storytelling. Meg Wolitzer has written a wonderful story about grief, acceptance, life and love.
Murder Most Unladylike
by Robin Stevens
The year is 1934. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are both pupils at Deepdean School for Girls, Daisy being rather clever, but also clever enough to cover it up (no-one likes a swot), and Hazel is Chinese and looks up to Daisy because of her cleverness. They set up a detective agency, with Daisy as Sherlock and Hazel as the long-suffering Watson. They soon get a juicy case to get their teeth stuck into - one of the mistresses at the school is found dead - by Hazel herself. The only problem is, by the time it takes Hazel to run and get Daisy and return to the scene of the crime, the body has disappeared. Seeing as no-one else would believe them, they start investigations on their own. As another death occurs, they soon discover that they it could be they themselves next on the list of murder victims. They must move swiftly to capture the murderer before it's too late.
The suspense is held throughout, but also with a dash of humour on each page. The sense of bullyishness of the girl pupils, the strictness of the mistresses, the no-nonsense approach of all-girls schools in the 30's are all included. Daisy is friends with Hazel, but with a bit of a mean streak - she grabs her just that little bit too tightly, enough to leave a mark, she calls her an idiot, she swiftly dismisses any logical thoughts Hazel may have on the case if they do not coincide with her own. But Hazel puts on her stiff upper lip, bears it all and is determined to prove herself.
A great, funny murder-mystery - think Enid Blyton with more mischief and wickedness!
