Esme Pepper

Esme Pepper is a troubled upper primary school girl. Her mum has been imprisoned because she was caught shop lifting for the twentieth time, to get Esme a California Dreams Dolls House.

Esme is put into foster care with Moira and Peter Hawes, an older couple who have ostensibly given up fostering. Of course, they take Esme as an emergency which turns into a much longer stay.

The main themes of the book are Esme’s adjustment to her new life. This is discussed in a more deeply nuanced way than Wilson sometimes writes and it is very enjoyable. Can Esme learn that you don’t have to be bad to get attention? And will she learn to love Peter’s garden gnomes as much as he does? It seems that Wilson had great fun creating ‘Gnomeland’.

It transpires that Peter or ‘Pops’ as he is known, has been diagnosed with mild dementia. Wilson makes this condition understandable but not the major focus of the story.

Readers may see overtones of Anne of Green Gables. Esme is far less easily mollified than Anne, but the comparison remains valid. Wilson should also be commended for having a prison-visiting scene which may be hugely comforting to children who have experienced similar situations.

This is arguably one of Wilson’s best works. Esme and the Hawes will live long in the memory.