Carousel review for Closer

We occasionally post summaries of reviews, but sometimes it feels like we should post entire reviews. In this case, our author Maxine Linnell is very pleased with this review of her young adult novel Closer. The review appears in the current issue of the children's/young adult review magazine Carousel and is written by Yvonne Coppard. Closer is available in paperback and as an eBook.

Mel is a teenager who feels increasingly disconnected - from life, from family, and from any hope of happiness with Raj, the boy she really likes but whom she can’t believe is interested in her. She wars with her older sister and is irritated by her younger brother Only her stepfather seems to know how to reach her. And as the story goes on, we realise there is something Mel isn’t telling us - the darkest secret of all, the fear that hovers in the heart of every careful parent. Her stepfather is too close, and Mel doesn’t know what to do about it. There are many autobiographies in the best-seller charts that deal with the manipulation and sexual abuse of children. Strange then, that the most realistic, most compelling read I’ve come across for a long time is this piece of fiction. For most abuse is not defined by abduction, enslavement and involving terrified obedience. No, most of it is manipulation, a distortion of genuine love and buried in the heart of a family that becomes increasingly dysfunctional without understanding why it is happening. Mel’s hesitant, half-told account of what’s going on builds the suspense; there are no gory details; we kind-of know what’s coming but can’t be sure what will happen next. It’s impossible to make a story like this ring true for everyone, but as a sensitive and realistic portrayal of the complexity of incest and the quiet devastation it wreaks on a family, this is up there with the best I’ve read.
Yvonne Coppard

Sometimes a book only tells half the story

Earlier this week we launched Maxine Linnell's second book, Closer, at Knighton Library in Leicester, with many of her friends and with colleagues from Leicester Writers' Club out in force. Probably most people knew that Maxine had a personal tragedy in the period leading up to the book's publication. The adage "the show must go on" is not always true but sometimes it is better if the show does go on. I'm sure Maxine would not want the loss of her son Ben to define her completely but we need to recognise it. She was asked to write the article below on a book blog, and we are linking to that with her permission.
http://notesfromtheslushpile.blogspot.com/2011/07/writings-struggle-and-then-life-gets-in.html

New Maxine Linnell book from Five Leaves

Maxine Linnell's time travel young adult novel Vintage was well received. In her new Five Leaves book, now available, Maxine turns to a more difficult issue - what happens when a father gets too close. This was an difficult book to edit as we were keen that the father in question was understood, not demonised, yet we had to be clear on the impact of his behaviour on the whole family. It is a book about love, about families, and about teenage friendship and trust as well. Maxine has taken on a difficult issue and dealt with it sensitively. Copies are available on:

http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/closer_maxine_linnell_i022633.aspx