In this novel, the reader follows Sophie as she learns that her parents have kept many secrets from her and her brother Hercule. Sophie’s family live in Brussels, capital of Belgium. But Sophie’s family haven’t always lived there. Sophie has memories of coming on the train from England, and she wonders if she’s somehow fabricated the truth as she seems to remember odd things about the journey like her mother putting on a wig in the station toilets. But that can’t have really happened… can it?
This book is unlike any other book I’ve ever read. I was completely taken by surprise at how cleverly some ordinary words were substituted for others throughout the whole novel. The story is narrated by Sophie, and for example, instead of using the word internet, she used the word introvert. In a sentence, you would immediately understand what Sophie meant without having to reread the sentence and it’s crazy how well this works.
Here’s a sentence I picked out from the book
In the living root, I chucked myself down on the softy and lay – fax down – on the softy’s big squishy cushions.
Here, it’s obvious that root means room, softy is a replacement for sofa, and by fax Sophie means face. This sentence can be read almost without realising that some words have been replaced. And once I was into the second chapter, I think I stopped noticing at all, it just seemed natural. But sometimes, I had to pause and try and think what word Sophie meant, and when this happened, it was quite frustrating to be honest, and the flow of the novel was lost. This was the only thing which I disliked. But on the whole, I think the replacing of words worked really well. It really makes the writing style unique and keeps the reader interested.
Overall, I think this is a brilliant and unique novel with fascinating word choices and a captivating plot. I would recommend this to children aged thirteen and upwards because it is not always easy to understand what the ordinary word is which Sophie is replacing. I think this book is certainly is a good contender for the 2015 Costa Children’s Book Award prize.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
