‘Beautiful Broken Things’ – Sara Barnard

Beautiful Broken Things

An assured debut, which focuses on the friendship between Caddy, Rosie (who have been friends for years) and new girl, Suzanne. The impact of this novel didn’t really hit until quite late on in the story, by which time I was hooked.

As Caddy turns sixteen she yearns to be more like her best friend, Rosie. Her ambition for the year is to have a ‘significant life event’ – she is determined to be more interesting and self-confident. What she doesn’t realise is just how much she does have going for her.

Caddy’s insecurity plays a large part in the set-up of this story. When Rosie starts talking about the new girl she has befriended, Caddy is jealous and worries that she is about to lose her closest ally. In Suzanne she finds another new friend – someone who encourages her to become more outgoing and to do things that she would never have dreamed of doing. While this seems good, it does come at a cost.

As the three girls spend more time together, we learn that Suzanne is – in many ways – broken. Having suffered abuse at the hands of her stepfather for years, Suzanne is on something of a downward spiral as she struggles to accept what has happened to her.

For me, the fact that we watch these events through Caddy’s eyes makes the impact of the novel more apparent. There was a real sense of inevitability to what transpired, but nothing felt overly forced. I had to steel myself to read the closing chapters and feared the worst.

While the subject matter will not be to everyone’s tastes, this was a story that really does raise questions. Having now finished this, I’m eagerly awaiting my copy of ‘A Quiet Kind of Thunder’.