Belle of the Ball

This charming, tense and gripping teen novel, covers a number of interesting themes – growing up and the challenges of maturing into an adult world; the sensitivity of different faiths; the impact of trauma and challenge on friendships and parental relationships.

Interesting to me, as a psychologist and Founder and Executive Director of 28 Too Many, a charity passionate to end FGM across Africa and the diaspora, it accurately and informatively handles this important topic in an educational, yet sensitive way.

I highly recommend this book – which moved me to tears a number of times.

This is a very readable, contemporary tale which would certainly captivate young adults of my acquaintance. As the story unfolds and the reader is taken through the changing scenes of a school prom, a road accident, hospital wards, a Greek island holiday and a people-smuggling incident, there is an impressive authenticity about the details described. The underlying activity of a secret agent and the moving account from a rescued migrant are both arresting and informative.

Teenage emotions and a growing recognition of the power of prayer and the relevance of a personal faith are sensitively introduced into the narrative. There is an honesty in this, as indeed there is throughout the text, which makes the book one which I would be happy to recommend widely.