Home

(Paperback)

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A powerful, compelling and ultimately uplifting debut - told in the extraordinarily powerful voice of Jesika aged 4 . Jesika is four and a half. She lives in a flat with her mother and baby brother and she knows a lot. She knows their flat is high up and the stairs are smelly. She knows she should not draw on the wall where the wallpaper is peeling or touch the broken window. And she knows she loves her mummy and Toby. She does not know that their landlord is threatening to evict them and that Toby's cough is going to get much worse. Or that Lauren, her new best friend, has a secret that will explode their world.

Reviews

Powerfully brings home the fears of living life on the edge...a narrative rich in intimacy and immediacy...Berriman is a former primary school teacher, and her acute awareness of the childs world, as well as the spot-on grinding details of poverty make this book wholly, painfully authentic...challenging but always compelling; for the entirety of the second half, I was desperate to rescue Jesika and her family.
Comparisons to Room by Emma Donoghue are inevitable; however, while Room is a novel about one sick individual robbing a family of hope and dignity, Home tells the far more terrifying story of inequality in our society..

-- Kerry Hudson * Guardian *
Packs a huge emotional punchheartbreaking ... Jesika is entirely engaging, sweet, emphatic and cross as she tries to interpret the grisliness of the grown-up world. * Daily Mail *
I read this in one sitting and am still crying. Tina and Jesika are heroes. A brave, important, heart-breaking book -- Emma Flint, author of Little Deaths
Amanda Berriman's Home kept me up late for all the right reasons. It's a tender portrait of a family in crisis that nevertheless grips like a thriller, a chronicle of extraordinary events that never slides into sensationalism. I loved Jesika - the girl through whose eyes the story is told - and her mother, who in remarkable times also faces the unremarkable challenges of motherhood we can all identify with. -- Shelley Harris, author of VIGILANTE and JUBILEE

Home is an extraordinary achievement. Jesika is utterly unique yet it also feels like there is a chorus of childrens voices behind her, telling their story too. Its an important story to hear. A must-read from an exceptional new writer.
Totally compelling. I read this behind my fingers and couldnt put it down until I knew if Jesika was safe or not. An important reminder about what the world looks like from a childs perspective.

Im not sure I breathed while reading this. Jesika jumps off the page and into your heart. She will stay with me forever.

-- Tor Udall, author of A THOUSAND PAPER BIRDS

Author Bio

Mandy was born in Germany and grew up in Edinburgh, reading books, playing music, writing stories and climbing hills. She works as a primary school teacher and lives on the edge of the Peak District with her husband, two children and dog.