The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi
Jessamy Harrison is eight years old. Sensitive, whimsical, possessed of a powerful imagination, she spends hours writing, reading or simply hiding in the dark warmth of the airing cupboard. As the half-and-half child of an English father and a Nigerian mother, Jess just can't shake off the feeling of being alone wherever she goes, and other kids are wary of her terrified fits of screaming. When she is taken to her mother's family compound in Nigeria, she encounters Titiola, a ragged little girl her own age. It seems that, at last, Jess has found someone who will understand her. TillyTilly knows secrets both big and small. But as she shows Jess just how easy it is to hurt those around her, Jess begins to realise that she doesn't know who TillyTilly is at all.
'This is a beautiful, haunting story of precocious eight-year-old Jessamy.. This compelling tale of folklore and cultural differences is sure to top the bestseller lists' Daily Mail 'A moving study of alienation' Guardian 'For a first novel from someone who was still at school when she wrote it, The Icarus Girl is an astonishing achievement. There is not a trace of the preciousness that so often characterises teenage fiction: just simple, well-drawn characters, crisp dialogue and an enviable grasp of the rudiments of storytelling' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'The author plays numerous sophisticated games with notions of twinship and identity and, perhaps because at 20 she is not far removed from it, convincingly re-creates the not altogether attractive world of small girls ... A highly auspicious fictional debut' Sunday Times
Helen Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria in 1984 and moved to London when she was four. She wrote The Icarus Girl while she was still at school, studying for her A levels, and is now a student of Social and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780747581482 |
| ISBN 10 | 0747581487 |
| Title | The Icarus Girl |
| Author | Helen Oyeyemi |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2006-02-06 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for British Book Awards: Writer of the Year 2006 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |