Annabel is dead, but it doesn’t mean she gets time to rest. Now disembodied, she’s been given the assignment of helping Julia, a former classmate. Annabel is given very little instruction, so she has to figure out the details for herself. Julia is fat, so that is why she is unhappy. Could it really be this simple? Annabel knows what can fix that. After all, she’s the queen of not-eating. But it’s not easy to get someone to listen to you when you’re just a voice in their head.
Annabel perseveres, however, because if she succeeds, she’ll be allowed to send a message to her family. Even though she says they didn’t care about her and wouldn’t support her desire to be thin, we can tell that they loved her. Perhaps, while helping Julia, Annabel might learn some important things for herself.
The issue of body image and the accompanying pressure that society places on young people is extremely important. Many teenagers – and even young children – destroy their health and sometimes lose their lives because of it. Claire Hennessy approaches the subject from an interesting, out-of-left-field angle that works brilliantly. It might be too late for Annabel, but there is still hope for Julia and for Imogen, Annabel’s little sister.
Reviewed by Wendy Noble
Age Guide 12+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Hennessy is a writer, editor, book reviewer, and creative writing facilitator from Dublin, Ireland.
She is the author of twelve books for young people, publishing since 2000, and her most recent YA novels Like Other Girls and Nothing Tastes As Good are published by Hot Key Books. Her novels have been nominated for the Irish Book Awards and the Carnegie Medal.
Her shorter work (fiction, poetry) has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies, including Necessary Fiction, Southword, Correspondences, and The Lonely Crowd. She won the Doolin Short Story Prize in 2015. Claire has received three Arts Council bursaries (for both short fiction and YA) and holds masters’ degrees in both Popular Literature and Creative Writing (TCD).
She reviews YA fiction for The Irish Times, children’s fiction for Inis, and other bits and pieces elsewhere. Claire regularly delivers author visits, writing workshops, and other book/publishing-related events for schools, colleges, libraries and festivals. She also provides mentoring, editing, and consultation services.
Claire has worked in arts administration (as co-director, co-founder, and course coordinator at the Big Smoke Writing Factory creative writing school in Dublin), educational administration, commercial publishing (as editor with Penguin Random House Ireland) and small-press/literary-journal publishing (as co-founder of and editor at Banshee). She is powered mostly by tea.
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