2019
Tiger has lived with
just her mother all of her life. She has never met her father. Her mother’s
attention becomes stifling. They row about Tiger going to the prom but then her
mother suddenly dies before they can make up. The dress that her mother had
bought for her for the prom is hideous but Tiger keeps on wearing it after her
mother’s death.
There
are now quite a few novels that deal with grief in young adults but perhaps none
that bring us quite as close to the protagonist as this one does. Tiger has a
variety of concerned adults looking after her: Karen, her social worker, a one-night
stand foster parent, a couple of more effective foster parents, her best friend’s
mum and dad and finally the half-sister she had not heard of before.
She
is shown much sympathy but few can offer empathy. However, Kathleen Glasgow
enables the reader to feel Tiger’s pain.
Tiger
eventually finds others who are suffering as she is and understand her sorrow. Glasgow has the courtesy not to magic the
hurt away and though the novel ends on an optimistic note we know that Tiger
will continue to suffer.
This
is not a comfortable read but it is an important one.
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