Review
-"Guardian"
Eve Magazine
Independent, Nicholas Tucker
Metro
Book Description
New Statesman, Lynsey Hanley
Sunday Telegraph
Financial Times
Independent Christmas Books.
Metro - Best Debut Novels of 2006
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
Fifteen-year-old Doria isn't in a good place. Or to be precise: she's in the sadly misnamed Paradise Estate on the outskirts of Paris. Her father has gone off back Morocco to find a wife who can give him a boy, and her illiterate, non French-speaking mother is having to fend for herself with a cleaning job in a grim motel. What's more, her favourite soap star has turned out to be gay and it looks like the only school that is going to accept Doria is the one for future hairdressers. Still, it could be worse: Doria could be like Samra, the girl in the flat above, whose father doesn't let her out, or Youssef who has been banged up for a year for dealing in drugs and stolen cars. At least Hamoudi - twenty-eight and the coolest guy on the estate - is her friend. And at least she gets a free weekly session with psychologist Mrs Burland, who is about the only person who listens, even if she doesn't quite understand...
In this fabulous first novel, Faiza Guene has created an unforgettable voice. Doria is both clued up and innocent, acutely aware of what's in store for her and powerless to change it. She is funny, clever and tragically trapped. But in the end, her dogged determination not to be down-trodden and humiliated wins through and it looks like things can only get better.
From the Publisher
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From the Back Cover
One thing's for sure, everything's linked to fate here. For better or worse. As for me . . . I haven't finished being disappointed yet.
On the outskirts of Paris, Paradise Estate couldn't be further from the truth. Fifteen-year-old Doria feels justifiably fed-up, since her father took off back to Morocco, and her illiterate mother is stuck in a dead-beat job, watched over by social services. Left contemplating a future in hairdressing, a first kiss that tastes like crackers, and Mrs Burlaud, her new psychologist who smells like alcohol, Doria's beginning to think that there's no such thing as coincidence . . . When fate deals a hand like this, why would tomorrow be any different?
A streetwise debut from an acclaimed and talented young writer.
'Full of humanity and wry humour' Guardian
'A Bridget Jones teenager of the suburbs' Elle
'It's sad, it's funny, it's stuffed full of talent' Cosmopolitan
