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"Heartachingly original and quirkily humorous, this Christchurch-set coming-of-age story is a multi-layered masterwork to savour and return to."
Set in Christchurch in 2012, two years after the first earthquake, Kate De Goldi’s Eddy, Eddy is a wise and haunting coming-of-age novel populated by authentically flawed characters that command undivided attention. It’s also cleverly haunted by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with a dead dog named Marley, a countdown to Christmas, and Dickens’ three ghosts replaced by women who come into the young protagonist’s life as he struggles with grief and identity.
Two years on from the earthquake that shattered his city and life, orphan Eddy lives with his uncle Brain in the suburbs of Christchurch, where he works in a supermarket and minds pets of all varieties – from dogs to frogs. Through his pet-minding work, Eddy makes connections with people as well as animals, not least with older women who seem drawn to him, and he also meets Boo.
Nuanced and courageous, subtle and intense, with a very powerful, heartachingly surprising denouement, Eddy, Eddy is a brilliantly bittersweet treasure of the kind you’ll most likely want to re-read. In fact, after reading it in one swift sitting, I feel the need to go right back in.
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A coming of age story, a love story, an earthquake story and a story of finding your way back from grief.
Eddy Smallbone (orphan) is grappling with identity, love, loss and religion. It's two years since he blew up his school life and the earthquakes felled his city.
Home life is maddening. His pet-minding job is expanding in peculiar directions. And now the past and the future have come calling – in unexpected form.
As Eddy navigates his way through the Christchurch suburbs to Christmas, juggling competing responsibilities and an increasingly noisy interior world, he moves closer and closer to an overdue personal reckoning.
Eddy, Eddy is a richly layered novel, written with humour and pathos: a love story, peopled with flawed and comical characters, both human and animal; and a story of grief, the way its punch may leave you floundering - and how others can help you find your way back.
See author Kate De Goldi talk about the book
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Eddy Eddy and determined it is suitable for children aged 15-18 years old
Eddy Eddy features in the following genres: Books of the Month, Recommendations, Festive Fiction, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, PSHE: Bereavement and Grief, Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Romance / Relationship Stories, Star Books, Featured Books for Young Adults
Eddy Eddy is available in Paperback
Eddy Eddy was written by Kate De Goldi and published by Old Barn Books
Eddy Eddy has 296 pages
£8.09
