2nd Post - holiday reading the sequel!

Even though I was loving reading the Mortal Instruments series - which I praised up in my previous post - I am one of those people who tries to spin out a good thing so, in between books 2 & 3 I read something completely different [it's gotta be another genre of book completely otherwise I find myself mixing up the characters or plot!].  I dipped into Slipstream by Kate Bingham - a tale set in the 80s or early 90s about a trio of girls who become friends at a girl's boarding school and spend their last summer before getting their A  level results together on an ancient narrow boat.

My friends and family are, of course aware that I went to a girls' boarding school - so much  of the  action/drama struck a chord with me - the hanging about feeling bored, the clothes swapping, the music practice rooms, the glamour of smoking just to flout school rules - even girls getting crushes on totally unlikely male members of staff, just because men are a rarity in the school community!  It's all here and I loved it!  There are secrets which unravel, seemingly mundane details which later piece together into important jigsaw pieces, and the girls are so real with  good qualities and faults - they grate on each other and fall out before coming back together as strong as before.

I'd say this book was aimed at women, but not specifically at teens, it seems to straddle between both audiences - the angst and confusion of dealing with feelings of love and jealousy spans a huge age range - some of us are still learning well into adulthood. It reminded me a little of when I first read

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - how you have to read between the lines to understand the true meaning of what Adrian has seen or overheard to get the true depth of the story.    Adrian's take on life was truly ground-breaking - and will still have me laughing out loud if I pick it up now and read a few excerpts.