Girl in the Window by Penny Joelson

Book of the Week: 23 September 2018

Confined to the house, and often to her room, Kasia has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME. She is unable to go to school and Ellie is the only one of her friends who still visits her. Her older brother has left home to work in Poland and she is often bored and lonely as well as poorly. One evening, she sees a man jump out of a car and pull a young woman into the back seat. Seconds later, she notices movement in an upstairs window of the house across the street and thinks that someone else must have seen the event too. Kasia rings the police to tell them about the incident and the other possible witness, but when the neighbours are questioned they say there is no girl living there. But then Kasia sees her again.

Although this is the central mystery of the story, there is a lot more to this book than solving the puzzle of the enigmatic girl in the window. We are given a detailed picture of what it is like to struggle with a debilitating condition and the isolation that goes with it and what Kasia lacks in terms of a wider life, she makes up for in terms of an inner life, being curious, thoughtful and determined.

You will enjoy this if you read Penny Jolson’s previous book I Have No Secrets. If you enjoy stories where someone observes from their bedroom window and has to solve a mystery, you could try The Goldfish Boy too.