In Leah's Wake [Kindle Edition]

Full of emotion and sensitivity, this book is well written and hard to put down

There are two, if not three, sorts of wake; I thought this would be about Leah's funeral wake but I was wrong. This is the wake that a thoughtless teenager leaves behind her for her loving family to suffer and gape at when she lives life as she wants without a responsible thought for anybody else.

Leah is a beautiful and talented schoolgirl in her final year before university with everything to work and live for. But with a drug taking/dealing boyfriend who she dotes on, cigarettes (or rather spliffs), hard drugs and bunking off to take her mind off real life, Leah falls into a trap of her version of `grown up' life versus a boring but loving family and home. Parents and grand-parents the world over (or is it just the western world ?) will be cringing on their sofas reading of teenagers living their own lives, making the very same mistakes that they and their parents made but having no real control over how to run their children's lives without alienating them into the bargain.

Leah's younger twelve year old sister, Justine, is totally devoted to Leah, to the point that Miss Justine Goody-goody A * +' tries to emulate her sister by smoking, only half-heartedly does her schoolwork and even joins Leah when she runs away from home. There are financial stresses and strains between the two girls parents', Zoe and Will, with Will working away from home and having the opportunity of the beginnings of an affair which I'm sure he would have started if only the other woman had picked up the phone. Zoe is also on the brink of an illicit friendship with the policeman involved with Leah's several scuffs with the police. The ending is excellent - I was expecting possibly the death of Leah or split of the parents but the way it ends is very very touching.

This is a very moving and, at times, heartbreaking story which will be loved by many, whether they be parents or not - I am not. It's a well paced book with never a dull moment and I would recommend to all who love a good contemporary fictional read.

Amazon had this at the top of my recomended list for ages, so together with the rave reviews I went ahead and bought it but sadly it wasn`t for me. I couldn`t identify with any of the characters, and moreover found them intensely irritating. I think being british without childen made this a poorer read for me.

This novel is heavy going, but totally believable and well-written. It deals with a young girl whose family suffer her problems more than she does until late in the story when the balance shifts. I found it quite disturbing and it made me thankful my own daughter is now grown up and came through her teens relatively unscathed! After I'd finished it, I wanted to read something humourous for some light relief - however, for all that, it's a really good read from start to finish.