Review: Remarkably Entertaining and Engaging
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 7, 2013
Annabel is a bright, precocious, imaginative, slightly dramatic 13 year old. She has a loyal best friend; she lives in a small village; she attends a quite normal school; she has a long suffering if supportive family. That all sounds quite fine, but where does it leave us, exactly?Well, some authors can come up with a charming heroine, but their writing is uninspired and their plots go nowhere. Or they come up with a great plot, but advance it with purple prose and flat characters. Or you get elegant writing in the service of a tedious plod amongst unattractive protagonists.Well, these stories touch all of the bases, just right and in just the right proportions.Annabel is so full of life, vinegar, sensitivity, feistiness, self-delusion, good humor and decency that you immediately take to her. Her best friend forever Kate is a long suffering and perfectly aware foil who tempers Annabel's excesses and provides a running dry commentary on the action. Secondary characters are deftly sketched with a few lines and a bit of dialogue. Even though this book is a collection of five short stories, we end up with perfectly fleshed out images of Annabel's parents, brother, teachers, and all of the other important characters in the village.The quality of the writing is on a different level from that which one usually encounters in middle grade fiction. It is economical and restrained, but very generous and always exactly on point. It reminds me a great deal of how P.G. Wodehouse could use just a bit of dialogue or a brief sentence to speak volumes about a character or to set up a situation, or to conclude a lengthy chapter. While the writing is "sharp" the sentiments behind it are good humored and affectionate. The humor is sly but not mean; the wit is subtle but not obscure. The author clearly harbors great fondness for his characters and their foibles, and so there is always a spirit of generosity and a little bit of a wink and a giggle no matter how wayward the characters might be.This is the first in a series that currently stands at five books. I don't think it matters very much if they are read in or out of order, but it might be best to at least start here at the first collection of shorts, if only because care has been taken in these to introduce all of the players and to lay some groundwork. Regardless, if the opportunity presents, be encouraged to give one of these Annabel books a try.Please note that I found this book while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. I have no connection at all to the author or to the publisher of this book.