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A review by pipparature
Ballad for a Mad Girl by Vikki Wakefield
5.0
Grace Foley is troubled, by anyone's definition of the word. She's been a fan of increasingly outlandish pranks since she was small and has little regard for her own safety. Since the tragic death of her mother a couple of years previously, and the subsequent move away from the family farm. Now 17 Grace is facing her final year of school with her close group of friends but Grace is falling apart and concerning everyone.
Right from the start you know Grace is damaged. She's carrying a world of hurt inside her which is making her increasingly detached from those that love her. A crisis point at the start of the novel sees Grace dragged into a years old mystery and an obsession with a missing girl, and a dead boy. Only Grace can make the connection between these events which happened before she was born.
This is a brilliantly written book. Vikki Wakefield writes Grace beautifully. Her descent into madness and loss of control unfold against the backdrop of friends who are moving on and preoccupied with their own lives, Grace is left behind and then isolated because of what is happening inside her own head.
It's hard to categorise this book. There's an element of horror, certainly, but I don't like to read that genre and I coped fine with the level that this is pitched at. It's certainly YA and a very good example of it. So much YA is simply 'girl meets boy' but this is a real exposition of a teenager in crisis which deserves to be more widely read. Wakefield drags the reader along with Grace's journey and I couldn't put the book down. She's not the most likable character but she is often endearing and charming and it's hard not to feel sorry for her, even though she'd reject your pity if it was offered.
A rewarding and challenging read. Excellent.
Right from the start you know Grace is damaged. She's carrying a world of hurt inside her which is making her increasingly detached from those that love her. A crisis point at the start of the novel sees Grace dragged into a years old mystery and an obsession with a missing girl, and a dead boy. Only Grace can make the connection between these events which happened before she was born.
This is a brilliantly written book. Vikki Wakefield writes Grace beautifully. Her descent into madness and loss of control unfold against the backdrop of friends who are moving on and preoccupied with their own lives, Grace is left behind and then isolated because of what is happening inside her own head.
It's hard to categorise this book. There's an element of horror, certainly, but I don't like to read that genre and I coped fine with the level that this is pitched at. It's certainly YA and a very good example of it. So much YA is simply 'girl meets boy' but this is a real exposition of a teenager in crisis which deserves to be more widely read. Wakefield drags the reader along with Grace's journey and I couldn't put the book down. She's not the most likable character but she is often endearing and charming and it's hard not to feel sorry for her, even though she'd reject your pity if it was offered.
A rewarding and challenging read. Excellent.