A review by foggy_rosamund
A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam

5.0

Jessica Vye is "a writer beyond all possible doubt" -- or so she is told by an author she meets in her school. This little book captures her early adolescence during the first years of the Second World War. My edition of this book is a Puffin, but later editions were published for adults. I can see why their might be some confusion -- the narrator is 13, and there is nothing overtly adult in content in the novel -- no sex, nudity or swearing -- but the emotions and ideas are very mature and complex. It's a bildungsroman, a study of a moment in British history, and a novel about writing and reading, as well as a portrait of Jessica Vye. Jessica's father was a teacher but has become a curate and the family move to a small house in a coastal city somewhere near Liverpool. Jessica is a day-student at the local school, and finds little room to write creatively, to read, or to express herself. Meanwhile, the trauma of the war looms: days and nights are punctuated by air-raid sirens, and there's a constant sense of loss. Jessica is often mean, angry and self-centred, and her character and voice are very convincing. She captures the agony of being 13, and also the joy and passion. It's a subtle, funny and moving book, which I enjoyed immensely. Published in 1971, it feels utterly different from most children's books of this period, and extremely vivid and relevant today.