Description
Sixteen-year-old Therese lives in a small town on a small island. Her Aunt Kath calls her Tiger. Her friends call her Resey. The boy she loves calls her Champ. She’s a lot of different things for a lot of different people. Therese has always had her feet on the ground. She’s running through high school, but someone in her life is about to fall ...
Review
This is a tremendous coming of age novel. Having a Mum that abandoned her at birth and a Dad that moved on soon after, sixteen year old Therese (aka Tiger, Resey or Champ, depending on who is talking to her) is trying to find her identity.
She is always busy and is pretty much a high achiever, and now her incredible best friend Nick Wallace (Wally), has kissed her. But then the unthinkable happens when Nick, who struggling to live up to the hype that he is going to be football’s ‘next big thing’, takes his own life.
Therese just wants things to keep moving and life should go on as normal. You don’t run away and hide like her Mum did!
With the help of Rhino, a friend from her part time job at the supermarket, Therese goes on adventures that Rhino hopes will make her slow down and smell the roses.
This book handles many themes, that include:
- Step-parenting - her Aunt Kath is a great example and has always been a rock in Therese’s world
- Friendship
- Loss and grief
- Family
- High achievers and coping with stress
It tackles these issues with compassion and understanding, and we see Therese emerge a stronger, and still hopeful, young woman.
The themes make this an ideal read for teenagers 15 and older.
Reviewed by Rob
