A Song for Issy Bradley
As seen:
By Carys Bray
avg rating
1 review
WINNER OF THE AUTHORS’ CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015 AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2015
Meet the Bradleys.
In lots of ways, they’re a normal family:
Zippy is sixteen and in love for the first time; Al is thirteen and dreams of playing for Liverpool.
And in some ways, they’re a bit different:
Seven-year-old Jacob believes in miracles. So does his dad.
But these days their mum doesn’t believe in anything, not even getting out of bed.
How does life go on, now that Issy is gone?
TweetReviews
I loved this book. Each of the characters had a full chapter in which their reactions to the main event, a family bereavement, was illustrated. I particularly related to the mother as I have struggled with depression for a number of years, however I could relate to the secondary story of the book, the background, as it concerns a Mormon family and deals heavily with how the church's beliefs and practices impact on how each family member approaches and copes with their grief, and I was once a member of that church. The story is set in Lancashire, UK, where I live too, so the way in which the characters spoke to one another was also very familiar to me. I felt very much at home with this book. There are some very funny and also very touching moments, especially about the youngest child, but there are lots of very sad moments and I found myself in floods of tears often. The book does have a fairly large amount of detail regarding the Mormon church but it is necessary to the story and isn't in any way designed to try to convert someone to the faith. The author has actually experienced the loss of a child in some way so I felt this was a strong semi autobiographical work.
