Eight Pieces of Silva: an addictive mystery that refuses to let you go ...

By Author / Illustrator

Patrice Lawrence

Genre

Mystery & Detective

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Hachette Children's Group

ISBN

9781444954746

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

06-08-2020

Synopsis

From the multi-award-winning author of Orangeboy, an addictive mystery that refuses to let you go long after you turn the final page. Can Becks piece the jigsaw together and find her sister before Silva loses herself?

Becks is into girls but didn't come out because she was never in. She lives with her mum, stepdad and eighteen-year-old Silva, her stepdad's daughter. Becks and Silva are opposites, but bond over their mutual obsession with K-pop.

When Becks' mum and stepdad go on honeymoon to Japan, Becks and Silva are left alone. Except, Silva disappears. Becks ventures into the forbidden territory of Silva's room and finds the first of eight clues that help her discover her sister's secret life.

Meanwhile, Silva is on a journey. A journey to make someone love her. He says he doesn't, but he's just joking. All she has to do is persuade him otherwise ...

Download Extract

Reviews

16-year-old Becks is the polar opposite to her new step-sister but when their parents go on a belated honeymoon to Japan, the differences become more intriguing. Silva has always been the solitary, quiet member of the family, spending hours isolated in her room by her own choice, not allowing anyone else in there at all.

All of this places Beck in a quandary when Silva disappears completely without a trace. Should Becks let her mum and step-dad know or can she solve the mystery of where Silva is and why she has disappeared by herself? She does not want to alert any of the authorities for fear of unwanted attention from them; after all they would be interested in a 16-year-old home alone just with her cat for company.

For bubbly Becks, the challenge is too enticing and set alongside her quest to find love and her DNA dad attempting to make contact, the layers of Silva's secret life start to reveal themselves. She soon learns a lot about her step-sister but also about her friends and an unusual delivery man who has a habit of initiating relationships with girls but not committing.

Eight Pieces of Silva is a fascinating ready by Patrice Lawrence, the author of award winning Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Rose Interrupted. A beautiful, multi-layered mystery which proves that the people who you think you know can often surprise you. Having Silva's perspective delivered interspersed within the plot is a masterstroke. I thoroughly recommend this mystery set in London with a LGBT angle to it.

310 pages / Age 14+ /Reviewed by Sharon Bolton Librarian