Count Me In

A plethora of books with anguished teenage heroines as their central characters can bring on reviewer fatigue. I confess to a certain lack of buoyancy in my approach to this book but I was more than pleasantly surprised by it. This is a very readable story - fast and convincing in character and plot, rich in experience. There is an honesty in the writing which, refreshingly, never condescends to its readership - probably second or third-year girls. Katie's mother has remarried and is pregnant and Katie's friend Ruth has absorbed herself in adolescent preoccupation with boys. Katie's increasing isolation is exacerbated by her self-confessed failure to involve herself emotionally in either area, and loneliness and self-pity play an increasingly large part in her life. She is plausibly rescued by the depth and continuity of her relationship with her grandmother, which affords her the maturity to make the first positive steps towards recognising and fulfilling her emotional needs.