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Her only regret is that she has never heard back from her brother, even though she wrote regular letters to him, letters sent to the adoption agency waiting for the day he decides to investigate his birth family. I was so charmed by Freya Blackwood's illustrations in "Maudie and Bear" I was eager to see other things she has done. Now in her early 40’s Kerry is a single mum to a young son, living on a rough estate, she has her own small business cleaning the houses of the rich and entitled. I went in completely blindly, having downloaded this purely because I love the author, and was rewarded with a fabulous experience. Both story and pictures are so evocative of children’s play and children’s friendships, and also of feelings of loss, connection, and creative ways of coping too.
Her best friend, Jodi, from Milread Children's Home, is now living in the North East with her family, although the two of them remain close. The chapters switch between Kerry and Noah’s first person perspective and there’s a ‘dear diary’ sing song to the narrative voice. As the book progresses, I became overwhelmingly invested in their blossoming relationship and hoped for a sweet ending. From the past, the most saddest thing ever is that when her mother couldn't look after Kerry and her brother, anymore, they went into separate care.
The simple, direct language makes this book to get absorbed in, and the descriptions of life in Kazakhstan, with its camels, hunting eagles, and barren but beautiful landscape, are fascinating. I really enjoyed reading this book, and felt that I could relate quite well to the characters, as we have members of our family who have been adopted. I didn’t give it five stars because it ended up being a bit too ‘sweet’ for me, but if you like touching, heartfelt stories then you’ll love this. If—if—he decided to go to college, he would study electricity, which he’d done a science project on at school. This is a book about love, not the romantic kind, but the kind that most of us know first – that of love from your family.
His refusal to open up is ruining their marriage - and although Noah knows this he is incapable of doing the one thing she needs him to do. The illustrations, most in sepia tone with splashes of reds and oranges, sets the tone of the book and the sadness that comes when someone moves away. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology, he moved to London to pursue a career in journalism and worked as a Features Editor and agony uncle.Noah Martineau is a successful barrister with a beautiful wife, daughter and home in fashionable Primrose Hill.
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