After years of faded memories, finally Apple’s mum comes back to England to rescue Apple (full name Apollinia Apostolopoulou, possibly one of the names I feel I was destined to own...) from her lovely yet somewhat overbearing grandmother.
Everything seems to be taking shape. Everything seems to be working – until Apple discovers her mum’s secret and a whole new set of complications threaten to destroy her newly-perfected parent.
I loved this book so much, so I don’t really know how to describe it. Maybe that’s why I loved it! It gave me a sort of indescribable satisfaction that made me cradle my slightly beaten copy covered in a regulation library protective plastic sleeve.
It’s one of those books that you feel like you know the characters, and I felt that I knew Apple well enough to be her best friend.
With Crossan’s first book The Weight of Water, written as poetry, I was expecting more or less the same thing in her second book. Although I was wrong about the way in which the story was told, poetry still featured heavily in Apple and Rain.
Apple repeatedly has to write her own versions of poems for her English homework, and I for one can say that I felt genuinely upset and angry when she stifled her talent. This may seem over the top, and I admit, it probably is, but I – a prominent poetry reader – was entranced by this book.
I cannot praise this book highly enough. Sarah Crossan, you have a fan!
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
