Cherie

Cherie is 16 - intelligent, industrious and set on a career in medicine. Then one night, when her father and sister, Suzy, are out, she's raped by burglars. The book sets out to deal with this sensitive and emotional subject and relationships are presented realistically and harshly. Suzy is determined to support her sister, expecting tears and pleas for comfort, but is confounded when Cherie retreats into a hard shell. Their father is simply determined that everything must return to normal and fails to respond to Cherie's needs. On this level the book succeeds, but is less effective from a literary standpoint. Bailey has a curious style which employs long series of abruptly truncated statements and sentences which end in illogical places. This irritation aside, Year 9 girls upwards will probably find that Cherie gives them a good deal to think about.