One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | May 2017 Book of the Month | In a Nutshell: Coping with bipolar disorder | Finding the courage to shed secrets | Intense, insightful exploration of how it feels to live with bipolar disorder, and finding the strength to reveal who we really are.
Sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan’s life is a precarious balancing act. She’s on a strictly managed cocktail of meds to control her dysphoric mania, a form of bipolar disorder which makes sufferers feel simultaneously manic and depressed. Mel is also mourning the death of her brother, who suffered from the same condition and believed that “everyone has a super power.” Mel identifies hers as “the ability to not think about anything I don't want to think about", which she lives out by keeping her condition secret from everyone but her family. But, while this secrecy is how Mel seeks to maintain equilibrium, along with working in an old people’s home, it’s also what causes a huge falling out with her friends. She’s locked into this cycle of secrecy until her new doctor remarks that in order to enjoy the intimacy she craves, she needs to give people the “chance to know and love the real you”.
Along her turbulent journey, Mel’s vital relationships with the people she meets in the home are stirringly portrayed, especially David, the grandson of a resident, to whom she opens up. Heart-rending, empathy-inducing and uplifting, reading this novel is an immersive, all-consuming experience that really does resonate long after the final page. ~ Joanne Owen
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How can you have a future if you can't accept your past? Mel Hannigan doesn't have it easy. Mourning the death of her firework of a brother, trying to fit back into a school she's been conspicuously absent from and struggling to deal with the loss of three friendships that used to mean everything.
Struggling to deal with a condition that not even her closest friends know about.
So Mel tries to lock away her heart, to numb the highs and lows, to live quietly without hope - but also without pain. Until someone new shows her that it can be worth taking a risk, that opening up to life is what can make it glorious.
The heart-rending and inspiring novel from the critically acclaimed author of NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST. How can you have a future if you can't accept your past? Mel Hannigan doesn't have it easy. Mourning the death of her firework of a brother, facing the loss of three friendships that used to mean everything to her and struggling to deal with a condition that even her closest friends don't know about. To protect herself and everyone else, Mel tries to lock away her heart, to live quietly without pain - but also without hope. Until the plight of an old friend, and meeting someone new, shows her that the risk is worth taking, that opening up to life - and who you really are - is what can make everything glorious...And that maybe Mel can discover a tragic kind of wonderful of her very own. A beautiful, captivating story about living with mental illness, and loving - even with a broken heart.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed A Tragic Kind of Wonderful and determined it is suitable for children aged 13-18 years old
A Tragic Kind of Wonderful features in the following genres: Books of the Month, Recommendations, Books Reviewed by our Reader Review Panels, Featured Books for 13+ readers, PSHE: Family Issues, Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Children’s, Teenage and Educational, PSHE: Bereavement and Grief, Recommended Children's eBooks, Featured Books for Young Adults
A Tragic Kind of Wonderful is available in Paperback, Hardback
A Tragic Kind of Wonderful was written by Eric Lindstrom and published by HarperCollins Children's Books an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
A Tragic Kind of Wonderful has 351 pages
£8.09
