"Taboo-busting and emotionally truthful examination of teenage pregnancy."
I have no doubt that following a Carnegie Shadower’s Choice and UKLA Book Awards win with your debut novel, Crossing the Line, must be hard, but Tia Fisher has also talked about what a personal struggle this book has been for her, with her new central character Marnie being ‘a lot like the girl I once was’. But the fact that this is a story that really matters to its author, is absolutely palpable in the reading, lending urgency and authenticity to the tale of a life so very nearly wrecked and which is a brilliant exploration of the physical, emotional and moral ramifications of teenage pregnancy.
Once again, the author is demonstrating her mastery of the verse novel with her trademark playful creativity with layout on the page, but what I was not expecting was the dual narrative to be laid out side by side on the same page. This leant a real immediacy to the narrative.
In real life we do not have one voice filling the space, politely followed by the other; they are inevitably layered upon each other, and this strategy enables us to get inside each character’s head and mainline their emotions while getting a 360 perspective on the scene. I was also not expecting the male voice to be anything other than the father of the child, but instead it is of a new friend with his own problems.
Marnie has been expelled from her exclusive school, and now finds herself seated next to Zed, the class loner who hates physical contact and is a socially - anxious, sexually - questioning, physics-obsessed nerd. Their unlikely friendship forms as they help each other prepare for their GCSEs, trading each other’s talents. This friendship is severely tested when Marnie drunkenly sleeps with a boy who only pretends to wear a condom and falls pregnant. Zed functions as an everyman for the reader as he struggles to grasp the issues associated with this and we all maybe understand for the first time what is like to arrange and experience an abortion, and that stealthing (non-consensual condom removal) is a form of rape which is a criminal offence under UK law.
These are important messages for all readers of any gender. But this is by no means a single-issue novel, it is a nuanced and utterly believable slice of a reality familiar to many and one which includes poverty, misogyny, homophobia and bullying and all the characters we meet are fully fleshed and developed. I might have thought the superlative Crossing the Line would be a hard act to follow, but this powerful and hugely readable novel surpasses all expectations.
Mention should also be made of the very helpful list of resources and sources of help at the end of the book. This is an author who cares deeply about her readers too.
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