Notes on My Family

A book for young adults. Enter the world of Louise Coulson through her notes on her family,  school and friends. Lou is a perceptive outsider who takes notes  as if she were holding a film camera silently fixed on a world that tends to ignore her .  Her revenge is a perfect image, sharp, subtle and  full of humour. Here they all are: her dad who is in a relationship with a sixth former, Sarah her  moody sister, her mum who tries to burn all memories in a saucepan and has a ‘brief psychotic episode’ , her nan who goes to seances, her friend Faith who has six parents ( all gay)  as well as Lou’s dog and parents in her alternative universe. Told in the present tense so that you feel that you right there and sprinkled with Lou’s inimitable asides.

‘Boyfriend didn’t seem the right word for someone who is fast approaching forty-seven and  who owns socks that are older than I am.’

The characters slide in and out of this beautifully crafted  book as  if on a stage. Lou takes notes on what everyone says, interweaving comments and dialogue to create a narrative that’s full of fireworks. In the end you can’t but agree that there is no such thing as a ‘normal’  family and that it’s ‘ the people who are different who make the difference.’

A warm, witty and moving look at one complicated family and the girl at the heart of it. Full of sincerity, intelligence and hope. Anna James, A Case for Books

Character driven, sprinkled with humour, read it easily in one sitting.’ Luna’s Little Library