Page 24 - Phonebox Magazine November 2015

Book Review
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This is only Kerry’s second novel, but there is potential to do more than just a straight line narrative, with warm, witty characters. I liked this, would happily recommend it to others.
Debbie Taylor
The Island Escape by Kerry Fisher
Ihave to start by saying that I have a connection with this author, we went to 6th form together!
So I chose this book for holiday reading
thinking that it might just be another ‘chick- lit’ type of book with minimal story and few believable characters. As the story unfolded, I was impressed with the quality of the narrative and the interesting characters that inhabited this book.
The story follows the lives of Roberta and Octavia. It starts off with Roberta in a police station calling Octavia to help her get out. It turns out that Roberta is in a fairly unhealthy relationship with the abusive Scott, whereas it seems that Octavias marriage is perfect, with the slightly boring Jonathan. The book charts the demise of both marriages as Roberta
Thelma Shacklady
Too Close to Home by Susan Lewis
Jack and Jenna Moore have just moved to Wales with their family. At Jack’s suggestion they have started their own publishing company, a venture inspired by the fact that Jenna is a published author and freelance editor. At fifteen, Paige is Jack’s stepdaughter, her own father leaving when she was just a baby. The rest of the family consists of Josh, aged seven and five year old twins, Flora and Wills – on the surface a perfect family, enjoying each others’ company, lively and intelligent.
But everything is not as it seems; Jack drops a bombshell when he reveals that he has fallen in love with someone else and intends to move out and live with her. Paige is very fond of her stepfather and this is a total shock to her. Then her own life takes an unexpected turn as she falls foul of the school bully, Kelly Durham and her gang of durmites. She changes from a happy, confident teenager to an introverted stranger, spending all her time in her room on her computer. She refuses to submit the video she has been making, with Jack’s help, for her GCSE project and steps down from playing First Voice in the school’s production of ‘Under Milkwood’. At school she is constantly taunted by Kelly and her gang, the bullying escalating into physical violence.
Matters get worse when she is bombarded by cruel, vicious texts, her facebook account is hacked and doctored photos are sent, purporting to come from her. She finds herself ostracised by those who were formerly her friends. At school or at home, she is unable to escape from unremitting attack which is making her life a misery.
The author presents a vivid, uncomfortable picture of the unpleasantness of bullying and the way in which it is made much worse by the teenage obsession with texting, snapchat and all computerised communication. 24 Phonebox Magazine
stands up to Scott and Octavia’s lost love, Xavi from Corsica, comes back into her life with a vengance.
So far, so Chick lit!, however, this story is told with a warmth and humour that I usually find completely lacking in this kind of book. The friendship of Roberta and Octavia is the mainstay of this novel, showing the closeness of two women who have obviously known each other for a long time. As a reader, you feel for both of them in their developing situations. I like the way they can be outwardly insulting each other, but you know that they will always be friends.
The writing is full of the anecdotes of family life, trying dating again after being married and juggling that with children. The situations are realistic and funny. The author is able to talk about serious situations as well as the humorous. It is well constructed if a little predictable especially the conclusion, where everyone lives happily ever after, but the ways they get there are fun.
Although there is a tendency to exaggerate for effect, it is a sobering thought that many of our young people may be suffering to a greater or lesser extent from cyberbullying. This is a book which should be read by all who have contact with teenagers, giving, as it does, an insight into the problems they might face. And, yes, it is also a good read, if perhaps a little slight and over dramatic at times.