Waving Not Drowning

Rushton cleverly reverses the title of the famous Stevie Smith poem to suggest that these are stories of hope, not despair. The lives of three teenagers occupy the narrative: Lyall, who is in long-term foster care after the death of his sister and the departure of his mother; Jay, who is struggling to cope alone with the stress of his grandmother's Alzheimer's affliction; and Fiona, who fears she is pregnant and wants only to be loved by the baby's father in a way she feels she has never been by her parents. This sounds like an overload of doom but the three narratives run parallel to each other and the twists and turns alleviate the pessimsm which might otherwise drag down the book. The stories have a credibility gained through their strong characterisation, their pacy structure and their realistic teenage dialogue. The neatness of all three endings jars a little after the carefully constructed realism of the rest of the book but there is always reader satisfaction in seeing characters who have become familiar being justly served.