"Gritty, moving YA masterwork about grief, guilt, depression and regaining a sense of self"
Haunted by her mother’s death, and now uprooted from Limerick to a rural village, 18-year-old Saoirse is desperate to leave school and start her life afresh. Her tremendously tough journey through guilt and anxiety - quite brilliantly related with raw compassion by Helena Close - makes for an engaging, thought-provoking, moving read that sheds light on the realities of depression while offering honest glimmers of hope.
Just ahead of sitting her sitting the Leaving Certificate, Saoirse’s ex-boyfriend commits suicide. It’s no secret that she cheated on him with his best friend, and she’s cast out by her peers. Devastated by guilt, grief and feeling isolated, her counselling sessions do little to help.
Yet even as she descends into the darkest clutches of depression, Saoirse shines as a wise and witty young woman. She sees people for who they are, beyond her years, with her narrative casting a glaring light on the reality of attitudes to depression: “You are not allowed to be sad. People have no tolerance to sad.
You can be Insta sad – sad because you saw pictures of dying refugees or abandoned puppies. You can’t be ongoing sad.. You can’t be scared or anxious or upset”.
As everything becomes too much for Saoirse, she’s taken to a psychiatric hospital. Though painful, her journey to regaining herself is powerfully raw and touched by hope, with the wider cast of true-to-life characters (from Saoirse’s siblings and peers, to her straight-talking, gin-swilling grandmother) adding to the enlivening authenticity.
ARaven Award Winning Irish author's North American debut.A moving YA novel about mental illness and recovery.18-year-old Saoirse cant wait to leave school but just before the final exams her ex-boyfriend dies by suicide. Everyone blames Saoirse even Saoirse herself, who cheated on him with his best friend. She is shunned by her schoolmates and suffers unbearable levels of anxiety, which her useless counsellor does nothing to alleviate.On the night of the prom, everything becomes too much and Saoirse makes a decision that lands her in a psychiatric hospital.
ARaven Award Winning Irish author's North American debut.A moving YA novel about mental illness and recovery.18-year-old Saoirse cant wait to leave school but just before the final exams her ex-boyfriend dies by suicide. Everyone blames Saoirse even Saoirse herself, who cheated on him with his best friend.
Things I Know features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance / Relationship Stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: General, modern and contemporary fiction, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Suicide, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Physical and mental health conditions, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Positive / good mental health, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Fiction, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Death and grief, Children’s / Teenage: Personal and social topics, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Mental health
Ebook, Paperback. £10.99. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
Things I Know was written by Helena Close and published by Little Island Books
£10.99. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
