A Map of the Sky, by Claire Wong
Claire Wong is a friend of mine, so please excuse me from referring to her as 'Wong' - that would just feel weird and awkward. And the thing I love most about this book is the way that as I read, I felt like I was spending time in Claire's company; much more so than with her first book, The Runaway. (That was also good, and I remember I read it two and a half times in succession after I bought it, because it was so calm and peaceful which was just what I needed.) I think it's because one of the characters, Beth, thinks and talks like Claire does.
Not that she has written herself into the book; Beth is in circumstance, background, appearance, etc, different from Claire. Instead, I think it's because Claire has set out to write a character who is compassionate and discerning, and to do this she draws from her own store of gentle wisdom. And just as I would always recommend spending time with Claire, I recommend spending time with Beth - which is easier to achieve, because you can run out and pick up a print copy of A Map of the Sky.
Beth isn't the central character, although she is important. The story centres on a boy called Kit, who has been whisked away with his family a week before term ends to move to a new home that isn't even ready yet. No one seems willing to offer any explanations, so he sets about looking for adventure and making new friends, but the question of what is happening in his family hangs over him.
Nonetheless, he's determined to help people and for a small confused boy he does a pretty good job.
Unfortunately he isn't yet the best judge of character, and I found myself cringing as the story built to a point where he would make a fool of himself. But Claire's compassion extends to her characters, and a sweet scene blows away the worst of the impact, leaving Kit a Wiser and Better Man but saving him most of the embarrassment.
Kit doesn't figure out what is going on in his family until circumstance steps in and brings it to light. More impressively, neither did I. I was (almost) as much in the dark as Kit the whole way through, even reaching some of the same wrong conclusions as him. The solution, when it came, was unexpected, yet it did make sense of the situation. For this reader at least, Claire has achieved the difficult task of holding together mystery and plausibility.
There is a lot more in the book; I haven't even touched on the central themes, but I'll leave those for you to discover.
Not that she has written herself into the book; Beth is in circumstance, background, appearance, etc, different from Claire. Instead, I think it's because Claire has set out to write a character who is compassionate and discerning, and to do this she draws from her own store of gentle wisdom. And just as I would always recommend spending time with Claire, I recommend spending time with Beth - which is easier to achieve, because you can run out and pick up a print copy of A Map of the Sky.
Beth isn't the central character, although she is important. The story centres on a boy called Kit, who has been whisked away with his family a week before term ends to move to a new home that isn't even ready yet. No one seems willing to offer any explanations, so he sets about looking for adventure and making new friends, but the question of what is happening in his family hangs over him.
Nonetheless, he's determined to help people and for a small confused boy he does a pretty good job.
Unfortunately he isn't yet the best judge of character, and I found myself cringing as the story built to a point where he would make a fool of himself. But Claire's compassion extends to her characters, and a sweet scene blows away the worst of the impact, leaving Kit a Wiser and Better Man but saving him most of the embarrassment.
Kit doesn't figure out what is going on in his family until circumstance steps in and brings it to light. More impressively, neither did I. I was (almost) as much in the dark as Kit the whole way through, even reaching some of the same wrong conclusions as him. The solution, when it came, was unexpected, yet it did make sense of the situation. For this reader at least, Claire has achieved the difficult task of holding together mystery and plausibility.
There is a lot more in the book; I haven't even touched on the central themes, but I'll leave those for you to discover.
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