Phosphorescence

Lola loves her life in the coastal Norfolk village where she has grown up. Aware for a while that her parents are unusually tense, nevertheless she is not prepared for the news that her mother is going to live and work in London and is taking Lola with her. Settling into school with streetwise London kids is not easy but she manages it, and attracts the attentions of Harry, the school skateboard champion. However, a school trip to her village involving camping on an island surrounded by treacherous currents leads to all sorts of worries for Lola. These become real in a dramatic conclusion which comes close to a tragic outcome.

Phosphorescence makes a lively read for younger adolescent girls. Life in Norfolk and London is well contrasted and Barker captures the tone of Lola and her contemporaries in a persuasive manner. My one concern with it relates to the night spent on the island. Here the teacher in charge of the group shuts himself up in his tent for an early night while the young teenage boys and girls are let loose to light a fire and wander where they will. Surely this would not happen?