The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi
'Stop looking to belong, half-and-half child. Stop. There is nothing, there is only me, and I have caught you.' Jessamy Harrison is eight years old. Sensitive, whimsical, possessed of an extraordinary and powerful imagination, she spends hours writing haikus, reading Shakespeare, or simply hiding in the dark warmth of the airing cupboard. Sometimes, when the world becomes too much for her, she can only scream and scream. Her South London schoolmates are wary of her precocious intelligence, and as the half-and-half child of English and Nigerian parents she doesn't belong. Taken to her mother's family compound in Nigeria for the first time, she meets her uncles and aunts and cousins - and her formidable old grandfather. Then one day, in the deserted servants' home, she encounters Titiola, a ragged little girl her own age. At last she has found a friend, someone she can play with, who understands her. But what is it that sly, capricious TillyTilly is seeking in return? What is the secret that TillyTilly is hiding from her? And why can no-one else see her new friend? As the bond between the two girls grows, Jess watches powerless as those around her begin to get hurt, and she begins to wonder if TillyTilly is as harmless as she looks. Lyrical, poetic and compelling, The Icarus Girl is a novel of twins, doubles and ghosts, of a little girl growing up between cultures and colours. It heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent.
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 | 9780747576372 |
| ISBN 10 | 0747576378 |
| Title | The Icarus Girl |
| Author | Helen Oyeyemi |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2005-01-03 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| 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 |