Girl, 15 Charming But Insane

Readers of The Guardian will remember how her hilarious column starring Dulcie Domum, wife, mother and romantic novelist, led to Sue Limb’s career as the chronicler, in a number of tongue in cheek novels, of the contemporary female condition. In Girl 15 Limb is on sparkling form. Her heroine Jess, concerned about the size of her breasts, makes her own bra inserts from small plastic bags filled with minestrone soup. Disaster looms following the party at which they burst from which she is rescued by her loyal friend Fred – but Jess’s knees go weak for Ben. How do you assess a boy’s worth? Amidst the slapstick Limb weaves such themes as friendship and rivalry, the importance or not of appearances and so forth. Her characters, parents included, are recognisably real people made comically larger than life. Technically the novel is a delight with its cliffhanger chapter endings, incidents of nail biting tension and pacey humour. This is pink lit that girls (and boys with a copy in a plain wrapper) will love.