The Icarus Girl - Softcover

Oyeyemi, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747578869 ISBN 13: 9780747578864

Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2006

Synopsis

Jessamy Harrison is eight years old. Sensitive, whimsical, possessed of a powerful imagination, she spends hours writing, reading or simply hiding in the dark warmth of the airing cupboard. As the half-and-half child of an English father and a Nigerian mother, Jess just can't shake off the feeling of being alone wherever she goes, and other kids are wary of her terrified fits of screaming. When she is taken to her mother's family compound in Nigeria, she encounters Titiola, a ragged little girl her own age. It seems that at last Jess has found someone who will understand her. TillyTilly knows secrets both big and small. But, as she shows Jess just how easy it is to hurt those around her, Jess begins to realise that she doesn't know who TillyTilly is at all.

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:

‘A beautiful, haunting story ...This compelling tale of folklore and cultural differences is sure to top the bestseller lists’ -- Daily Mail

‘As original as it is unsettling, The Icarus Girl runs straight at the heart of what it means to belong’ -- Oprah Magazine

‘Consistently subtle ... A deeply appealing and complex story’ -- Olivia Cole, Spectator

‘Flickering between viciousness and vulnerability, The Icarus Girl is a compulsive, disrupting read’ -- Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph

‘It’s this off-the-cuff, innocent-seeming realism that powers this novel’ -- Ali Smith, Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0747578869
• ISBN 13: 9780747578864
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336