Saffy's Angel

Saffy's Angel

Hilary McKay

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2002

In Saffy's Angel, Saffy discovers at age eight that she is was adopted by her aunt when her mother died in a car crash. This is not particularly significant until her Grandfather, in his will, leaves her her 'stone angel'. Saffy, along with her brother and sisters, the memorable Cassons, and her wheelchair-bound best friend Sarah, embark on a quest to find her angel.

I don't normally go for realistic fiction, but the Cassons reeled me in from page one. Scatterbrained Caddy, the eldest, falls instantly in love with her driving instructor, Darling Michael, Indigo, second youngest and only boy, attempts to cure himself of vertigo by sitting on his bedroom windowsill for hours on end, and Rose, the youngest, paints desert landscapes on the corridor wall. Their father, Bill works in London and only visits occasionally, and Eve, harried mother and artist, works in the garden shed and tries to stay on top of things.

I fully recommend this book (and the sequels Indigo's Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy ever after and Forever Rose) to everyone over 8 years old.

NEVERWHERE

NEVERWHERE

Neil Gaiman

Harper Torch, 1996

I read Neverwhere fairly recently, but I have been a fan of Neil Gaiman for quite a while (I especially loved The Graveyard Book). Anyway, Neverwhere drew me in with a good old-fashioned adventure story, with several unique plot twists and ideas.

The main character of Neverwhere is Richard Mayhew, who in the course of about 2 days, finds a girl bleeding on the sidewalk, stops to help her and is dumped by his fiancee, and sucked into a hidden world, located in the sewers and abandoned subway tunnels. The adventure that follows is gripping, scary, and amazing. I must add that parts of the setting and the story reminded me of Suzanne Collins' Underland Chronicles, however, Neverwhere is geared towards the older audience and is much darker.