80 Books No.16: Saving Daisy by Phil Earle

This was one of those books that turned out to be something a little different from what I expected. From the blurb I could guess it would be depressing, but I didn’t expect it to be quite as dark as it was. I expected some character deaths, probably some self-harm and some police involvement, all of which I got, but then it took a slightly different turn and became something else.

Daisy comes across as a reasonably believable teenager, although it isn’t one-hundred per cent clear where her ridiculously low self-confidence initially comes from. We’re told that her mother died, and whilst Daisy blames herself due to a medical report she found and read, it later becomes clear that she died during childbirth, so Daisy’s involvement is lessened somewhat. Her father doesn’t like to talk about her and so Daisy goes looking for evidence (hence finding the report), but apart from this, her father seems lovely – they have cosy father-daughter film nights and he does nice things for her birthday. Whilst growing up without a mother and hearing little about her may have affected Daisy a little, it seems unlikely that she’d have got through to the age of fourteen having made no friends, and her lack of comrades at school or indeed anywhere in the novel stands out as something a little strange. Daisy’s ability to blend in with everybody around her and go under the radar is detailed early on, but her complete isolation is something which is never resolved, leaving me, for one, wanting to know what happened next.

Earle has some experience of working with teenagers like Daisy so I shouldn’t really presume to criticise his portrayal as he likely knows way more than me. What did come across in the novel was a sense of logic in the way Daisy behaves, the reasons why she does what she does and how she always comes to the conclusion that things are her fault. The input of Ade in rewiring how Daisy thinks was a good insight into the workings of this kind of therapy. Earle has also provided himself with a range of characters he could explore in subsequent books if wanted; I believe Daisy is a character in his previous novel Being Billy and so he could repeat this here with any of the other teenagers from the care home Daisy finds herself in.

This was not as dark as Torn but nor was it a book which I’d ever find myself re-reading or spending much time thinking about. It was an okay read but not revolutionary.