Shortlisted for the prestigious Teenage Book of the Year Award 2009.
An irresistible new novel from Jenny Valentine, winner of the Guardian Children's Book Prize with Finding Violet Park. Written with a wonderful lightness of touch, the author manages to weave and interweave the very different lives of a disparate range of characters - 15 year old Sam,10 year old Bohemia and her rather hopeless mother, Steve the landlord and a batty old lady - into a stirring plot that's by turns heartrending and sad but also laced with wit and humour and ultimately an uplifting ending. Quirky but cleverly woven and brilliantly written.
Number 33 Georgiana Street houses many people and yet seems home to none. To runaway Sam it is a place to disappear. To Bohemia, it's just another blip between crises, as her mum ricochets off the latest boyfriend. Old Isabel acts like she owns the place, even though it actually belongs to Steve in the basement, who is always looking to squeeze in yet another tenant. Life there is a kind of ordered chaos. Like ants, they scurry about their business, crossing paths, following their own tracks, no questions asked. But it doesn't take much to upset the balance. Dig deep enough and you'll find that everyone has something to hide!
For Finding Violet Park - 'Ultra-original and brilliantly written, this will have you laughing and crying too' Mizz magazine
For Broken Soup - 'A life-affirming, witty, romantic read' The Sunday Times
Author
About Jenny Valentine
Jenny Valentine moved house every two years when she was growing up. She has just moved house again, probably not for the last time. She worked in a wholefood shop in Primrose Hill for fifteen years where she met many extraordinary people and sold more organic loaves than there are words in her first novel. She has also worked as a teaching assistant and a jewellery maker. She studied English Literature at Goldsmiths College, which almost put her off reading but not quite. Jenny is married to a singer/songwriter and has two children.
