Sam, his 7 yr old sister Freya, and his older brother Ethan have been called to a family meeting by their parents. Sam and Ethan think “divorce!” and Freya begins to cry at the mention of the word. Divorce isn’t the reason for the meeting though. It’s good news! Dad’s sold his business, and they are now rich. “Not stinking,” but enough to enable a move to London, and Mum to quit going out to work.

Sam doesn’t want to leave the town he grew up in, his mates or his school. But Ethan and Freya are excited about their new school in London – the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, where they can focus on their creative pursuits of music and art.

As expected, Sam hates the new school, the posers, rich kids and too laid back teaching style. Mum is struggling to find her feet too, looking for something meaningful to fill her time, jumping from one thing to another.

Sam’s loser status is all but impenetrable, until Ethan unexpectedly gives his little brother a few home truths. Grudgingly, Sam lifts his head out of his gloom to discover there might be a life ahead.

The family dynamics, especially at the kitchen table, made me laugh out loud. The try-hard mum, the blunt and sarky teenage boys, inquisitive little sister and ‘keep me out of it,’ Dad, were so believable, it felt like I was in the room with them. Sam is an authentic, sulking, difficult, impossible, and incredibly likeable 15 year old boy, pulled out of his relaxed, popular-school-status-comfort-zone, and dumped in London loserville.

New family dynamics, a creative endeavor he’d never tried, two girls and a mask, take Sam to where he wants to be. A funny but true to life teen novel is rare, and this is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. 

Author – William Sutcliffe

Age – 14+

(2019, Bloomsbury, School, Creative, Acting, Art, Music, Creativity, New School, Moving, Growing Up)