Girl in the Attic

When 13-year-old Nathan’s parents split up the news comes as a shock. Ironically, his mum is an Agony Aunt but her skills appear to have deserted her as she springs more and more surprises on her son. The greatest of these is her plan to move to Cornwall and it is an angry Nathan who arrives in St Ives for a Christmas of house hunting. There is a cottage for sale and a girl who lives there, a girl who paints. As Nathan is drawn into her story and into her pictures he begins to resolve his conflicting feelings about his parents and reach out with love to his new friend. Mendes is not a new writer for children but this is her first full length novel. She has an acute ear for dialogue and she creates a strong and heady sense of place as Nathan experiences the burgeoning of first love. A fine fiction debut.