This book is uniquely wonderful and I am so pleased to be part of this blog tour. It is something special and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Elizabeth, her mum and within the School of the Good Sisters. Read on for my review!
Reminiscent of old boarding school stories, this new and updated version will take you to a boarding school with a difference. Nuns teach helicopter flying, there are endless hidden stashes of biscuits and the girls learn more from life than from books.
Elizabeth must attend The School of the Good Sisters, after the death of her parents. From that point onwards, Elizabeth learns to survive. She becomes obsessed with ducks and will become the worlds foremost expert on one particular breed.
This brilliant book has the feel of a classic but is brought into the digital age with mobile phones and the internet. However, the school is still much for than a traditional boarding school. When Elizabeth grows up, she has a daughter called Calla. They barely survive and this is where true empathy for characters comes in. Calla gets used to living meal to meal, to living in the cold and dark when the bills aren’t paid and she must survive school as an outcast.
When Calla and Elizabeth are forced to separate, Calla gets sent to the same school as her Mum. However, a new head mistress has arrived bringing a structured and strict regime into place. However, as with many boarding school stories, there is uprising, revolt and daring girls challenging authority. Calla, finds herself roommates with Edie and Hanna, both who will help to lead the school back to its original path!
Bravery, courage, determination- all qualities Calla and Elizabeth possess and ones that are needed to bring them together again.
Delightfully written and with a superb use of footnotes to fill in the back story, the thoughts, the side notes, this book was hard to put down.
My Shelves Are Full 