Charlie (Charlotte) won’t speak. After all that has happened, she can’t find the words to tell her doctors or fellow patients, and she is taunted a little for her silence by another patient called Blue.

But Charlie doesn’t want to talk about how her father died, her mother fell apart and then took it out on her daughter. She doesn’t want to talk about the drugs, the sex-house or the man under the bridge. Something else she tries to hide are her scars. They thread across her arms like ladders and there are matching lines on her thighs.

Slowly but surely, Charlie finds her words again. Helping this is her drawing which is coaxed out of her in the rostered art and craft classes of paper, sticks and glue. Everyone else hates the classes but Charlie begins to find herself as she sketches.

Her Dad. Her Mum. Life homeless on the street. These aren’t the worst of it. There was Alice. Alice who saved Charlie from the wolves at high school. Alive who swooped in to school with her purple hair and I don’t give a *$%@ attitude and became Charlie’s best friend, confidant and almost sister.

But that was then, and Charlie is trying to move forwards. But it’s not easy. Leaving the hospital, and everything else she’s ever known, she begins again, holding her broken pieces together and trying to avoid the things that undid her in the first place – drugs, alcohol, guys, and love.

Blue arrives in her life again and Charlie hopes that she can help her mend. But addicts, alcoholics and cutters back in Charlie’s orbit is the last thing she needs, and the fight becomes almost impossible.

Girl in Pieces is a heart stomping read. I kept wanting to climb into the book and give Charlie a hug, then take her back in time to erase all the hurt piled upon her. It is a sobering read, but also a step into many lives struggling to be better, if only for themselves. Memories and past hurts are deep however, and climbing up and away from them, is beautifully written.

Although this YA novel is so tough a journey for main character Charlie, it is hopeful in the end. Watching Charlie pick herself up again and again, building her inner strength a little at a time, the conclusion left me feeling much more positive about her future. There are others around Charlie, both teen and adult, who have their own struggles. With them by her side, they all work towards a better future, whether it be a day, an hour, or a minute at a time.

The author speaks her own truth through Charlie’s fractured world, which makes Girl in Pieces even more authentic and heart breaking.

Beautiful.

Author – Kathleen Glasgow

Age – 16+

(2018, Harper Collins, Cutting, Drugs, Alcoholic, Razors, Family, Broken, Grief, Loss, Blame, Neglect, Love, Musician, Moving forward, Struggling, Growing up, Poverty, Poor, Hospital, Patients, Therapy, Counselling, New start, New job, Coping, Self Harm, Pain, Trauma, Recovery, Art, Drawing, Sketching, TikTok)