Little Celeste

Shelley is an 11-year-old girl who lives by the sea with her single Mum. Her happy life starts to disintegrate when the fear of facing secondary school is added to the stress of her Mum’s retreat into depression when dumped by her long-term boyfriend. But one day, when she leaves her bedroom for just two minutes, Shelley returns to find a beautiful, lavender-eyed real-life baby in her room.

With nobody to ask for help, Shelley names the baby Celeste and they embark on a number of precarious adventures together. But all is not as it seems. Celeste is invisible to everyone but Shelley and disconcertingly, she seems to capriciously change age and place without reason. It gradually becomes apparent that Celeste is a manifestation of Shelley’s inner child whose responses vary according to Shelley’s stress level. The denouement is predictable, but none the less gripping as the happy-ever-after ending is pursued.

Simultaneously poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, this book makes some big-hitting points about self-awareness, relationships and how we react to the ‘stuff’ of life. It is, though, up to the individual reader to decide if the concept really works. Just one note of caution – gratuitous and frequent blasphemy not only intrudes on the narrative, but may also be offensive to those of Christian faith.