Innocent

Events in Cassidy’s new novel are perceived principally through the eyes of 16-year-old Charlotte (Charlie) Simon. Her brother Brad, three years her senior, has a history of petty crimes – ‘too many to count’, as a detective comments at one point – and, as the novel opens, he has just committed yet another. Or has he? And, if so, what exactly is it that he has done (or not)? As Charlie gradually disentangles the web of truths, half-truths and downright lying, she is simultaneously confronting her various developing relationships: firstly, with Brad himself; secondly, with Emily, hitherto a best friend; thirdly, in sexual terms, with Dennis (Denny), hitherto a best friend of Brad; fourthly, with her parents, including a mother who, after some time away, has attempted a return to family life. Cassidy links these strands with considerable skill, subtlety and economy of style, succeeding in the process in making her readers consider some of the many contexts which can give rise to the use of the word ‘innocent’ and its implications.