Jordan just wants to leave. He’s in his last year of school, and his worries and fears and way of life for the last seven years can finally be left behind and forgotten about. His mother Susan is the reason, along with the way she forces them to live.

Jordan doesn’t ever bring friends home or even tell them where he lives. No one would understand their section covered in rubbish, let alone what’s inside their home. Moving from room to room is almost impossible due to waist deep piles of stuff.

There are newspapers, magazines, boxes, clothes, and all sorts of paraphenalia that Susan has ordered online or brought home from second hand dealers. Jordan’s biggest worry however is not his secret being revealed, but the health and well-being of his eleven year old sister, Tabitha.

Tabitha hardly knows any different, and enjoys sitting with their mother in front of one of her favourite TV shows, surrounded by food packets, takeaway boxes and crumbs.

But Jordan has noticed the sores on Tabitha’s face and how her only pair of shoes are too small. He has no patience for his mother as she buys yet more stuff online, but won’t buy proper food or cook anything for them, let alone give Jordan the money he needs for a guitar of his own.

Jordan is a talented composer and loves his music class and the respect his teacher gives him. She is only one of those who have been worrying about Jordan and Tabitha as they struggle within the shame and chaos of their home.

Jordan has always looked out for them on his own, but at only 17 is completely out of his depth. His dream to leave is complicated by his love for his smart, funny and brave little sister, and soon a betrayal by a classmate and a near disaster at home puts even more stress on him.

Torn between a fresh, clean, new start and understanding what he has grown up in, finally helps him make his final choices.

Mary-Anne Scott writes teenage boys with clarity, compassion and with a clear understanding in how they tick. Jordan is authentic, brave, angry, conflicted and kind. He’s not perfect however, and his struggles just drew me closer to him and his decisions.

The setting of a hoarder’s house is so real, it made me cringe at the cockroaches and screw my nose up at the explicitly described odours of a cramped, mouldy, mouse-stained home.

Trying to understand the hoarder character’s behaviour and mental health problems along with Jordan, pulled me further into the story. I felt his anger and frustrations keenly throughout the novel and held my breath in moments where I would’ve lost my temper too. His self-control is aided by kindness around him in a teacher, a girlfriend and her parents, and a couple who have reached out to him and Tabitha with solutions.

Much research is evident in the police, emergency and mental health services, as each of these organisations are compassionately portrayed in the book.

Sobering, emotional and ultimately hopeful for the character’s futures, The Mess Of Our Lives is a stunning read by a multi-award winning New Zealand author.

Author – Mary-Anne Scott

Age – 13+

Hear Radio NZ Review by Louise Ward here

Find more books by Mary-Anne Scott here

(2024, One Tree House, New Zealand, Family, Love, Betrayal, Grief, Growing up, Music, Poverty, School, Secret, Guitar, Composing, Composition, Sibling Love, Hoarding, Mental Health, Unsafe house, Caravan, Second Hand Dealers, Kindness, Compassion, Understanding, NZ, Aotearoa New Zealand, NZ Author, Award winning author)