Tag Archives: Depression

Grief Angels

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Grief Angels by David Owen

Book of the Week: 6 December 2020

Cover design by Leo Nickolls

A book about dealing with grief and the changing nature of friendships.

Duncan is taking medication to help him deal with depression. Despite being friends with Matt, Lorenzo and Saeed for what seems like forever, he can’t bring himself to confide in them. When new-boy Owen joins their school, Duncan is curious about why he has moved schools in the last term before GCSEs and why he keeps to his own company so much. We discover, as soon as we hear Owen’s voice as narrator, that he recently lost his father after a heart attack. He is not only haunted by grief, but keeps seeing a flock of other-worldly birds circling over him when he goes outside – something he understandably feels he can’t share with anyone else. Do these birds actually exist or are they creatures from another dimension sent to transport him to a different reality?

The strength of this book is the way it deals with the initially reluctant but growing friendship between Owen and Duncan and the changing dynamic of their relationships with other people in their lives. The banter between the group of school friends, often crude, funny and rivalrous, is convincing but doesn’t shy away from the deeper undercurrents going on under the surface.

David Owen acknowledges his debt to Skellig by David Almond, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Eren by Simon P. Clark.

The book has some similarities too with November 15th’s book of the week – The Wolf Road by Richard Lambert.

Darius the Great is Not OK

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Darius the Great is Not OK by Adib Khorram

Book of the Week: 19 January 2020

Cover art by Adam Carvalho

A leisurely and sensitive read about the power of friendship to transform lives.

Darius, like his father, suffers with depression and gets picked on at school. When his family discovers that his grandfather from Yazd in Iran is terminally ill they go to visit. Darius has never met his grandparents and knows little about his Persian heritage, except for his specialist knowledge of tea-making. Everything is disorientating until he meets Sohrab, the son of his grandparent’s neighbours. and they strike up a friendship. Gradually, Darius starts to feel almost more at home in Iran that he does in America.

This is Adib Khorram’s first novel and it is hard to believe he has never visited Iran. There is plenty of attention to detail and vivid descriptions of food, drink and the Persian way of life.

Jessica’s Ghost

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Jessica’s Ghost by Andrew Norriss

Book of the Week: 8 May 2016

Jessica's Ghost

Because Francis likes fashion and sewing, he is treated like an outsider at school and lives in fear of his chief tormentor, Quentin. Then, one day when he is sitting on a bench on the far side of the playing fields, he meets a ghost called Jessica and they become friends. Francis isn’t perturbed by Jessica’s other-worldliness but he is intrigued by her not remembering how she died and the need to return each night to the hospital where that occurred. If he uncovers the answer to this mystery will it help his friend?

This is not a ghost story for lovers of spookiness but a story about friendship and being different. Bullying and feelings of being odd or unacceptable are written about frequently in stories for young people but this handles a difficult subject, which I haven’t mentioned in this review for fear of spoiling the story, in a straightforward but sensitive way.

Although aimed at younger readers, this may be enjoyed by those who liked Am I Normal Yet? and The Art of Being Normal, two previous Books of the Week.

Andrew Norriss usually writes light-hearted comedies and he admits that Jessica’s Ghost is a departure from his normal style. It has been shortlisted for several awards which you can read more about on his website.