Title: Winter Damage
Author: Natasha Carthew
ISBN: 9781408835838 (hardback)
Price: £10.99
The
book follows Ennor a young girl living in a deteriorating society were money is
worthless, shops are closing down and everyone has nothing. These things are
nothing new to Ennor however, with her father dying of cancer and drug abuse
after the loss of their farm although she is now only 14 she was forced to
leave school years ago in order to take care of the few remaining animals,
attempt to provide the family with food and pay the rent while taking care of
her sickly father and her younger autistic brother Trip. Her mother left them
years ago to follow a religious path, and as bills pile up and food runs out
Ennor feels she might be their only chance of surviving the winter. Her worries
increase as she receives a letter about Trip being taken to an ‘institution’
and she decides to set off in search of her mother leaving her best friend
Butch to take care of her father and brother. However Butch, abused and beaten
by his father and consequently ill himself finds it difficult to take care of
Trip and further problems occur when Ennor is lost on the more and ends up at
the house of a strange woman who attempts to take her belongings. However the
woman appears to know where her mother is and gives Ennor directions. But can
she be trusted, and even if found, will Ennor’s mother even acknowledge the
daughter she lost so many years ago? With the bitter cold of winter settling
and the desperation of a society with no possessions or food growing, the moor
is not a safe place for a young girl alone. However she meets Sonny a young strong
gypsy girl who can fight, hunt and shoot and soon her good humour and outgoing
personality grows on Ennor.
Ennor
is a girl who almost feels she has lost everything at many points in the book,
yet on this path she also finds friendship and rediscovers the childhood she
missed out on. She learns the meaning of hope and love and discovers that what
she had been searching for had been with her along her journey. Society and mankind is falling to pieces, as
desperation leads to theft, ignorance and neglect, but from the dust rises up a
new generation of hope for something better; for children never forget the joy
of laughter. An inspiring story that captures the freezing cold of winter in
order to symbolise the coldness of humans in a times of crisis- when each
person is only concerned for their own survival. However the warmth of love and
friendship thaws broken dreams and hearts and leads these children to something
better than the life they left behind.
7/10
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