I really enjoy this character driven story of a woman’s battle to overcome deep seated issues and step foot onto the road to recovery. I like the way it’s written and although it covers some dark issues the storytelling is matter of fact and never overblown and has some good touches of humour. I love the portrayal of Meredith, I really like her, she is complex, sometimes her decisions baffle you but then you realise you don’t have her problems. Her condition, her reclusion (in Japanese hikikomori- I enjoy this inclusion!) is done extremely well and you really root for her. There are some very good supporting characters in Sadie, who is the epitome of a loyal and fantastic friend, Tom from the charity Holding Hands who dives happily into Meredith excellent baking and her new friend Celeste. I also love Jacob Alistair Montgomery aged 10. Delightful.The portrayal of her complex family situation is excellent both her sister Fee and her mother who looms very large are done extremely well. Maddie is just your average 12 year old. She wants to hang out with her friends and is frustrated at having to spend her weeks between two separate houses. Maddie organises a sleepover with two of her friends at her grandparent’s vacant house. She gives her mum and dad two separate stories so that they won’t suspect anything. However, an unexpected event occurs that leaves Maddie abandoned and alone. Her whole town has been evacuated, leaving houses empty and personal belongings strewn across roads and footpaths. The bits of information that Maddie can gather make no sense, and there is no one around to ask what happened. Maddie’s only companion is George, her neighbour’s Rottweiler. They explore as far as they are able to, finding food, water and other essential supplies. What they don’t find are other humans. Without power for heating and cooking, Maddie must rely on other means to help her survive. The library becomes vital for helping her learn new skills and for keeping her sane. Maddie holds on to the hope that someone will come for her, but as the months go by, Maddie has to cope with changing seasons and wild weather that make survival hard.

Loved the mirroring of Karana's story where some sus male characters show up early in her isolation and she hides from them Meredith is lovely. I instantly liked her character and the way she works. You can relate to her, like she is a friend you can trust. Despite her agoraphobia she tries to be there for Sadie and her new online friend Celeste. She has a good heart. The novel is gripping and the plot fast-paced...This is a tense, engrossing survival story on par with classics such as Hatchet." - Booklist And Tom is such an amazing supportive character! He was caring, patient, giving everything he could even though his plate was also full with lots of dramatic incidents.This was a wonderful tale, the verse works well in this. It showcases her loneliness, determination/grit, and strength during her journey to survive and carve out a life for herself.

Okay, so let's start with I KNOW this book is rated for middle grade readers. I don't know if it's just really been that long for me? Or if they would feel the same way. This may be due in part to the fact that it was written in verse. It took me by surprise, and while I wasn't expecting it, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And it's not that I'm averse to novels in verse (see what I did there?😂), because I've read them before and really loved them. It's just that they do really strange things to the narrative that you're hearing. I'm not exactly sure why, but I've just noticed that the way I perceive novels written like this is totally different than how I perceive one normally. And it changes book to book depending on how those verses are written. In this case, the verses made me feel less apart of the narrative. I felt like an outsider looking in.

Table of Contents

The five-year love affair between actress Liv Ullmann and director Ingmar Bergman primarily took place in seclusion on the Baltic island of Fårö, off Sweden’s southeastern coast. The island was made famous as the setting of Bergman’s films Persona, Through a Glass Darkly and others, but the story of his life there with Ullmann went undocumented until her 1977 autobiography. Ullmann’s writing is preternaturally lucid, cutting and unadorned. With devastating insight, Ullmann reveals what comes after togetherness: an enlightened form of solitude that is rich and nourishing. Mantel’s story is full of the vivid confessions that describe isolation at its most relentless and raw The now established author of Kavalier & Clay began his career with this rewriting of The Great Gatsby, set in 1980s Pennsylvania. Protagonist Art Bechstein questions his sexual orientation, and his alienation heightens his sensitivity to the world around him. In one of the novel’s final scenes, Art studies his ex-girlfriend with a kind of affection and understanding that comes to feel like revelation. “I was impelled now to look more closely,” Art says, pinpointing the chief virtue and gift of solitude, “to try to see the whole and its parts at the same time … the fine join of earlobe and jaw, the bone beneath her eye, and as I looked, it was no longer a profile.” This is such a raw, honest look at the effects trauma can have on people and how they can learn, grow, and heal through even the most difficult things. Highly recommended!