Family matters (by Helen Parker)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading Helen Parker’s books for teenagers because, years ago, she was part of our local writers’ group. I read ‘Hide and secret’ a few years ago and thought it both interesting and well-written. I enjoyed the stand-alone sequel, ‘Island treasure’ too, when I read that a year or so later, although I would have liked more about the characters in ‘Hide and secret’.

So when the third book, ‘Family matters’,  was published, I put it on my wishlist and was given it last Christmas. I just finished reading it. I hadn’t really remembered the characters from ‘Hide and secret’, but realised after a few chapters that some of them were in this book: in particular Ruth, whose early years were spent in Cairo. She is now 14 and goes to a high school in Edinburgh. She still doesn’t feel entirely at home there, but she’s reasonably settled. Most of her local friends are ones who also belong to her church youth group.

One of Ruth’s friends is Lucy, who is excited that her mother has a new boyfriend, Zak. He’s very generous, and she hopes he might be her stepfather. Ruth has other friends with stepfathers, and they all like them very much; some of what Lucy says feels a bit strange, however. Not that he’s behaving inappropriately to Lucy, but she isn’t quite sure how to deal with a new man in the family - and one or two of the things she says don’t quite ring true.

Reluctant Phoenix (by Helen Parker)

(Amazon UK link)

I had read two of Helen Parker’s novels for older children, and liked her writing style very much. I saw that she had written a novel for adults, so put it on my wishlist and was given it for Christmas. I’ve been reading ‘Reluctant Phoenix’ over the past few days.

There are two main protagonists, Heather and Beth. They’re around the same age, I assume in their early twenties, but very different in personality. And in the first few chapters we meet them in very different circumstances.

At the start of the book, Heather is studying Arabic in Cairo, in January 2011. This is when the Egyptian revolution began, and Heather is caught up in it right at the start. She’s initially nervous, then worried… then makes a bad decision which ends in disaster for one of her friends.