My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece

By Annabel Pitcher

(Orion, $29.99)

Reviewed by Nicky Pellegrino

Every so often a children’s book comes along that I think adults would find just as much pleasure in reading. Harry Potter is probably the most famous crossover kid’s book. And, while this one doesn’t star a boy wizard, it does feature a small boy who is likely to win your hearts.

Jamie Matthews is ten and he’s just moved to England’s Lake District for a fresh start with his Dad, his pink-haired sister Jasmine and his beloved cat Roger. Life has been sad and confusing ever since the death of Jasmine’s twin Rose in a London terrorist attack. Hence the title - his sister really does live on the mantelpiece in an urn and she’s the centre of the family, the perfect child, the hole in all their lives. Except Jamie isn’t really sad enough because he was only five when she was killed and doesn’t remember his sister so well. He hasn’t even cried. All his grief is saved for the loss of his mother who has run off with a man she met at a support group and his worry for his father who is drinking way too much.

A simple first-person story about a child trying to makes sense of the changes in his world, this is the most touching and sensitive novel I’ve read in a long-time. While there are lots of issues dealt with – from messed up families to eating disorders, racism and school bullying – Pitcher gets the tone just right. She tackles tough topics unflinchingly but is never preachy or obvious in her messages, instead letting them unfold very naturally through the sweet and often funny voice of Jamie.

At only 29, this debut novelist has produced a modern classic, a book that made me both laugh and cry, and forget for a while that I was a grown up so convincingly does it conjure up childhood. It’s definitely not a story for young kids, given the heaviness of some of its themes, but children of eleven upwards will get a lot out of reading it. It’s a tale that rings true and is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking. The front cover though is beyond unappealing and the title, while very original, doesn’t give much more of a clue of the treasure that lie within. If you only read one kid’s book this year make it this one.


Footnote:

Nicky Pellegrino, a succcesful Auckland-based author of popular fiction, The Italian Wedding was published in May 2009, Recipe for Life was published in April, 2010, while her latest The Villa Girls, was published three weeks ago and is riding high on the NZ bestseller list.


She is also the Books Editor of the Herald on Sunday where the above review was first published on 15 May, 2011 as was the Booklover column below:

Booklover

David Hartnell has recently released his autobiography Memoirs Of A Gossip Columnist (Penguin, $45)

The book I love most is.............I'm not one to gossip but… Hollywood Babylon - It's Back and Hollywood Babylon Strikes Again! They are both hot on gossip, unauthorized and unapologetic! Authors Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince write about lurid but unknown scandals from Hollywood's Golden Age, as well as shocking rundowns of today's scandals-in-the-making. I love their writing style and their razor wit.

The book I'm reading right now is.....................Jeannie Out Of The Bottle, Barbara Eden's autobiography. Growing up I would watch I Dream of Jeannie on the telly, so I related to stories about the TV series. I met Barbara Eden a few years ago in Hollywood and she told me she was writing her autobiography, so I’d been waiting for it and am thoroughly enjoying it.

The book I'd like to read next is.............. Any actor or actress’sautobiographies or memoir’s.  Right now waiting in the wings is Dame Judi Dench’s autobiography called And Furthermore. With out a doubt she is one of my all-time favourite actresses.

My favourite bookshop is.......Well I don't actually have one, but on saying that I can never go past a book shop without going in. I adore haunting second hand book shops because you can sometimes find such gems.

The book that changed me is..............Hedda and Louella a dual biography of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons by George Eells; they were the Hollywood gossip queens of yesteryear. I got the book out of the library back in 1972 and a light went. From that moment on I wanted to be a gossip columnist.

The book I wish I'd never read is...........As an author of eight books I know just how much blood sweat and tears goes into writing one. So my lips are sealed on the ones I wish I’d never read!