The Icarus Girl - Softcover

Oyeyemi, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747576378 ISBN 13: 9780747576372

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2005

Synopsis

'Stop looking to belong, half-and-half child. Stop. There is nothing, there is only me, and I have caught you.' Jessamy Harrison is eight years old. Sensitive, whimsical, possessed of an extraordinary and powerful imagination, she spends hours writing haikus, reading Shakespeare, or simply hiding in the dark warmth of the airing cupboard. Sometimes, when the world becomes too much for her, she can only scream and scream. Her South London schoolmates are wary of her precocious intelligence, and as the half-and-half child of English and Nigerian parents she doesn't belong. Taken to her mother's family compound in Nigeria for the first time, she meets her uncles and aunts and cousins - and her formidable old grandfather. Then one day, in the deserted servants' home, she encounters Titiola, a ragged little girl her own age. At last she has found a friend, someone she can play with, who understands her. But what is it that sly, capricious TillyTilly is seeking in return? What is the secret that TillyTilly is hiding from her? And why can no-one else see her new friend? As the bond between the two girls grows, Jess watches powerless as those around her begin to get hurt, and she begins to wonder if TillyTilly is as harmless as she looks. Lyrical, poetic and compelling, The Icarus Girl is a novel of twins, doubles and ghosts, of a little girl growing up between cultures and colours. It heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent.

About this title

Review:

In the The Icarus Girl, eight-year-old Jessamy Harrison is the only child of a Nigerian mother and English father--sensitive, intelligent, imaginative and prone to sudden and inexplicable screaming tantrums. She has unusual obsessions for a child--Hamlet and haiku to name two--and finds it hard to make friends. Then, on her first visit to her mother’s family home in Nigeria, Jess meets TillyTilly, a strange child with extraordinary abilities who leads her into forbidden places and uncomfortable situations. Some time after returning to the UK, TillyTilly turns up at the Harrison's London home and, at once, life for everyone is turned upside down.

This complex, multi-layered novel is compelling because of its unusual subject matter but also because of its lyrical prose. Written while studying for her A-levels, Helen Oyeyemi’s debut shows an immense maturity and understanding which belies her age. There are a number of dream-like scenes of intense emotion--a mystical visit to a funfair, an insight into a fellow pupil’s shameful secret and a sleepover that ends badly--that cleverly blend magic realism with horror story. But there’s also an innocence--intermittent reminders of Oyeyemi’s youthfulness which sneak up unexpectedly. Some of the dialogue is confusing and the structure is less than smooth in parts.

The Icarus Girl looks deep into Jess’s soul and asks questions about the true reasons for her troubled state of mind and her place in her family, her community and in society at large. It looks at the issues of self and the alter ego, at the relationships of twins and doubles and from there, deeper still, into complex psychological issues of identity and belonging. As a child of mixed-race herself, Oyeyemi has much to say on the wider and most important issue of cultural identity, integration and tolerance. This is a promising first novel by a talented young writer. Would be particularly appreciated by precocious and literary teenagers.--Carey Green

Review:

'This is a beautiful, haunting story of precocious eight-year-old Jessamy ... This compelling tale of folklore and cultural differences is sure to top the bestseller lists' Daily Mail 'A moving study of alienation' Guardian 'For a first novel from someone who was still at school when she wrote it, The Icarus Girl is an astonishing achievement. There is not a trace of the preciousness that so often characterises teenage fiction: just simple, well-drawn characters, crisp dialogue and an enviable grasp of the rudiments of storytelling' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'The author plays numerous sophisticated games with notions of twinship and identity and, perhaps because at 20 she is not far removed from it, convincingly re-creates the not altogether attractive world of small girls ... A highly auspicious fictional debut' Sunday Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0747576378
• ISBN 13: 9780747576372
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320