Every Little Piece of My Heart

For Sophie, the last five months have been doubly rubbish. Not only has her best friend Freya disappeared suddenly and is proving impossible to contact, but she has also been battling lupus and its effects on her body. When a parcel from Freya arrives, Sophie experiences a brief upturn in her spirits, until she opens it. In an elaborate 'pass the parcel', Freya has sent Sophie the opportunity to meet with other people Freya knew; Win, Lucas and Ryan, but why?

As the parcel makes its way through the group, each member realises they are inextricably linked together through their relationship with Freya and this makes for some uneasy encounters initially but leads to friendships developing, despite former prejudices.

Set with the backdrop of the end of Year 11 for Sophie, Every Little Piece of My Heart evokes the British summer end-of-year experience. Each character is developed fully and provides another layer of the experience. Alongside a character suffering a chronic illness, Non Pratt has developed a cast which provide ample opportunity to explore varying aspects of being a teenager here and now.

I really enjoyed this story which explored the meaning of friendship and how the most unlikely of friendships can develop given time and an opportunity to explore each other's perspectives. I know that this will be a popular addition to our school library. The ever-elusive Freya remains so right until the end of the story, and the intricate weaving of everyone else's lives compels the reader to want to get to the end without even realising it.

352 pages / Reviewed by Sharon Bolton, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 14+