Tale worthy of a laureate

He’s a little younger than Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye but has a similar self- awareness and sassy bravado about him: “My grandmother died. I know this is not what you would call a dramatic opening. It’s what happens to grandparents. They get old (jeez, they are old to start with)”

But in fact, this is the moment when the lives of 14-year-old Jono and his eight-year-old sister Julie begin to unravel. Their grandmother was their protector — she made sure they were fed, their clothes were ironed for school; her house was where they escaped to when their mother got out of hand.

Their mother is a lone parent and an alcoholic. Life is not easy. Jono has to behave badly at school so he can be sent home, so he can get his mother out of bed to go and collect the dole — so he can buy food.

He is somehow managing to keep the situation from everyone — in case he and his sister are separated — until the night when there are only apples for dinner, and Julie is crying with hunger and his mother punches her in the face.

He picks up the phone and dials 999 — but the mother pushes him in the chest so he staggers back. He hangs up.

“If the police come, God knows where it would end.” He’s tender with his sister, making her smile by referring to her favourite card game, Happy Families: “You’ll be plum-coloured tomorrow,” I said. “Miss Plum, the Grocer’s Daughter. That’s you.”

He lets her sleep in his bed. He leaves the light on because she’s scared of the dark. When she suggests running away, he decides it’s a good idea.

They head for Galway, where his father lives with his new family. Needless to say, without much money, and with the guards hunting them, things become difficult.

This is a story of love and loyalty, of courage and resilience in the face of extreme obstacles. It’s also the story of how lives could go horribly wrong when the odds are stacked against you in childhood.

Siobhán Parkinson has earned her title as Ireland’s first Children’s Laureate with Bruised. For the most part she pulls off the voice of a teenage boy, stumbling only rarely with certain expressions (‘happy camper’ is not a phrase I’d associate with teenagers, for example), while Julie is innocent and captivating.

The unexpected ending just choked me up. A wonderful and important book.