Powerful & Heart-Wrenching

Will You Catch Me? by Jane Elson is a powerful, heart-wrenching children’s novel and just perfect for ages ten years and older. It is a novel that I would recommend for any age as it will help you to get inside and understand the working of a young girl’s mind.

The novel has the heart-breaking theme of alcoholism. This effects not only the sufferer but all those they interact with. We follow Nell, in year eight as she struggles to cope alone with her Mum’s addiction. The reader’s heart just breaks for Nell. She is the self-proclaimed carer for her Mum since she was six years old. She keeps silent as she fears her Mum being taken away.

We really get to know Nell as the novel is written in her voice in the first person. We hear her fears and applaud her bravery and stoicism.

Nell loves her Mum but being the responsible one is exhausting. “I don’t want to go home, I’m scared of what I might find.” The reader longs for Nell to just be able to be a child. There are glimpses of the Mum her Mum could be, and the relationship they could have – but the demon drink keeps on winning.