Being Emily
By: Anne Donovan
Publisher: Canongate
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Edinburgh; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 297
ISBN-13: 9781847671257
Subjects: Fiction; Death; Brothers and sisters; Mothers
Description: Does the middle child in a family always get a raw deal? Certainly life is not straightforward for Fiona O'Connell. With her older brother out at work, she is often left in charge at home, dealing with the terror of her little twin sisters, Mona and Rona, and their line-dancing routines. She finds her escape in her books, her art and her blossoming friendship with Jaz, the Sikh boy at school. Then, one day her mother goes into hospital to have her fifth child. And she never comes home. Her death in childbirth feels like something that happened in Victorian times - surely not in Glasgow in the 21st century. For Fiona, life will never be the same again.