Bella, Libby and Grace are sisters. Their family
moves to live closer to dad’s only sibling, rich Aunt Thecla. He hopes that she
will be generous enough to pay for the girl’s’ education as they are struggling
to make ends meet. Bella leaves behind her boyfriend Sam and her happy
disposition. She becomes secretive; full of untruths and rebellious anger and
spite. Grace is six and mommy’s girl, while Libby, the one with the most logic,
is caught in the middle of it all.
It turns out that life in a small community isn’t
exactly what they all expected. Although Mum is happy at her new dentist
practice, dad seems uncomfortable returning to his past, which he left under a
cloak of mystery and hasn’t spoken about to his children.
Secrets always have a way of trickling out –
particularly in small communities. As the three curious girls try to adjust to
their new life, they also lose no time in investigating snippets of
conversations, and words dropped accidently on purpose around town, regarding
their father’s younger years. With knowledge, questions arise. Answers are
needed. The grey areas of dad’s life which were like a permanent mist, slowly
clear, to reveal an understanding of the choices he made, and bring the family
closer together.
I particularly love the building of Aunt Thecla’s
place in the story. The slow reveals show what she was before; the why and who
of her past, and how other people’s actions changed the course of her life to
mould her into all that she became.
She is a character full of wisdom and generosity of
heart. Information about her closely guarded life is uncovered when unexpected
happenings and appearances call back time, forcing buried issues to be
confronted.
Many stories are played out in this absorbing and
multi-layered novel about families, the secrets people keep, and the reasons
and lengths we all go to in order to hide things we fear from those we love.
Themes of bullying and its effects on young people
flow through the novel. How strongly the past is always anchored to the future
is a pivotal point, and subtly addressed, is how necessary it is at times for
children to share their parents’ past.
With brilliant prose and fantastic characters, Gwyneth
Rees, a former doctor who worked with children and teenagers, writes intimately
about adolescent angst. Her writing deserves to be explored further.
Title:
Libby in the Middle
Author:
Gwyneth Rees
Publisher:
Bloomsbury
Publication
Date: January 2018,
$12.99
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781408852774
For
ages: 10+
Type: Middle Fiction
