Love, Shelley

As the title hints, Love, Shelley is an epistolary novel - a very modern one. Shelley's world is one of a split family, a mother who suffers from depression and a fondness for alcohol, and of bullying. It is narrated in the first person by Shelley (14) in a series of letters to pop idol Ziggy whose brief messages in reply on postcards often help to tide Shelley over her latest troubles. This is definitely Jacqueline Wilson territory, although Wilson's facility with dialogue is not altogether replicated here. It will appeal to a market for fiction which attempts to show that life is a tough station for many youngsters and perhaps to offer them hope for improvement. In the tradition of these stories Shelley is a likeable and feisty young woman. She is terrified that she and her younger brother will be taken away from their home if the authorities find that at times their mother is a negligent parent. Her father is a caring man, but also occupied with his new wife and baby, and it is not until near the end of the book that Shelley alerts him to the extent of her mother's difficulties and that he becomes engaged in helping to confront unpleasant schoolmate Janice who tries to make Shelley's life a misery. While at times a little uneven, Love, Shelley is a promising and entertaining novel, and I look forward to reading more from Saksena.