Bertha gives me a look of such blazing fury that I flinch.
‘How would you have any idea about what’s right or wrong?’ she spits.
‘You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you? I’m not like you, Emmie, and I never will be.’
Emmie wants to be a writer, even though her family and friends scoff at the idea. She feels it unfair that she must stay at home and help her mother instead of continuing her education like her brother. So she sets to work at writing her novel – a stormy romance set in Yorkshire, far from the South Australian hills where she lives.
When Bertha Schippan comes to work around Emmie’s home, Emmie doesn’t know what to make of her. The young German girl seems a bit wild, but she is also full of life, and funny. When Emmie realises Bertha has terrible secrets, she wonders if tragedies can happen close tohome, jsut as much as they can happen in far away Yorkshire.
based partially on true events, A Girl Like Me is a beautiful novel for teen readers. Part coming of age story, part mystery, and set early last century, the story is finely crafted, with a balance of action and character development that totally absorbs the reader.
Wonderful reading.
A Girl Like Me, by Penny Matthews
Penguin, 2010
This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews. review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com
This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.