Twelve-year-old Gabriella Midwinter has ended up lost and alone. After her father and his new fiancee moved away, she was meant to go and stay with her mum. But her memories of her mum are so bad, that she's desperate enough to run away. Taken under the wing of a more experienced girl, Gabriella is forced to try and work out what she's willing to do in order to survive. Can she find her older brother Beckett, who she hasn't seen for years, and find a home with him?
I thought that this was a well-plotted and well-written story which didn't quite live up to expectations as I wasn't particuarly keen on Gabriella as a narrator. I sympathised with her for being in a dreadful situation - and for having such completely horrendous parents - but never found her to be all that interesting, to be honest. Similarly most of the other children are also a little on the bland side.
Having said that, Maryon deserves credit for creating adult characters who are completely vile but still believable. I also found her writing style to be easy to read and think it's really good to see a story written about a topic like this.
I'd be happy to recommend this to older tweens and younger teens looking for a thoughtful read.
Fellow Bookbag reviewer Anne really enjoyed this one - check out her review here for a second opinion.
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