Janie Ryan is born to an alcoholic,
drug abusing teenage mother. To Iris' credit she decides to keep the
baby, but what a life she brings her into. Janie comes home from the
hospital to her grandmother's council house, but this arrangement
doesn't last long. A huge fight between Iris and her mother puts
mother and baby on the street on a cold night. Frankie, Iris'
brother, is close to her, but he won't take sides when their mother is
involved.
Mother and baby find a short respite in
a woman's shelter, but then move on to a house in one of the worst
districts of Aberdeen. Here her mother meets up with Tony Hogan.
Hogan has money and gives the family treats, but he's also a violent
drug dealer who abuses her mother. The small family moves through a
succession of B&Bs and council properties as Janie becomes a
teenager and like all teenagers fights with her mother. The ending is
moving and full of hope, but will Janie truly be able to overcome her
background?
I found this book very realistic and
very hard to read. Janie is an attractive character. She loves her
mother and sticks by her when things are difficult. (Although there
is one scene in which as a young child she is taken into care and
develops an attachment to the woman in charge to the point of
wishing she could stay there always
.) Iris is a typical self-centered
addict. Her redeeming virtue is that she loves Janie and tries to
protect her although it means taking more abuse herself.
The book doesn't really have a plot. It
is the odyssey of a mother and child through the bottom levels of
society. The interest is sustained by rooting for Janie to succeed
and not turn out like her mother.
I recommend this book if you want a
realistic look at poverty in England and that translates into similar
situations in the US. However, it's a hard book to read because it is
so realistic.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley.
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