Frankie isn’t like her big sister. She hates pink, sparkly, makeup and anything girly. She’s much happier in her t-shirt, jeans and Docs. At nearly 14, she’s aware how other girls around her at school act, with all their gossip and talk about guys. She just isn’t into that.

Home is full of love but has been unsteady since their dad left. Her mum’s diagnosis of MS has made things tougher still and Frankie and her sister worry constantly about her. Mum puts on a brave face and wants to continue teaching, so she has made her girls vow not to tell a soul. It’s hard. Frankie can see how tired her mum has been getting, and when she has a fall outside the school gates, Frankie is teased by a group of girls for having a drunk for a mum.

This group’s leader is Sally, Frankie’s sworn enemy. Frankie brushes it off, telling herself it doesn’t bother her. When she confides in her big sister, she feels better but this confession only confuses things down the track.

Suddenly Sally doesn’t seem to be so awful. Suddenly she is actually being friendly. And kind. And funny. And… Frankie doesn’t get it. Despite all the spite and pain and nastiness from the past, Sally has changed. Despite Frankie’s sister’s warnings, Sally and Frankie are soon friends. Or are they?

Navigating her mother’s illness, feelings of betrayal about her father’s leaving them for a new partner and her head spinning with confusion about Sally, Frankie is full of doubt. What and who should she believe? Sally or her sister? Her feelings or those of others? What should she say? Or do? Will self-doubt ruin everything?

This story of growing up is beautifully realistic. People are complicated and relationships even more so. Frankie is trying to make her way through her worries for her sick mum, her father’s honest attempts for redemption, her eldest sister’s concern for her and her own feelings for Sally who is wonderful one minute and distant and off-hand the next.

Any of these situations on their own are enormous, let alone all three, but Wilson effortlessly pulls all these strings together into Frankie’s life. A great read for 12+

 Author – Jacqueline Wilson

Age – 12+

(2020, Penguin Random House, Family, Relationships, Sisters, Siblings, Divorce, Separation, Friendships, School, Bullying, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Illness, Secret, LGBTQ+, Gay)