We Are All Constellations

Iris is seventeen. At age ten, her Mum died in a fire – or so she thinks. This is a searing and painful novel about secrets, lies, family and the messiness of being human. It tells the story of how Iris comes to terms, or begins to, with her grief and the loss of her mother.

It also touches on what we do as humans when someone isn’t who we think they are – not so much what we do, but the problem of what to do when our perception doesn’t match the reality of someone, or of our construct of them. This is a book for Year 11 and up as it openly deals with suicide, mental health and the aftereffects.

The reader needs to be in a very positive frame of mind to read Beashel’s novel. It is challenging and confronting but ultimately, hopeful.