This book starts with a very short letter after the whole story had finished; it is also repeated at the end of
the story which is quite nice and very unique – I loved this idea!
Fran is lonely on her island home and unhappy at school. Her brother, Barney, is autistic and can be a problem sometimes. Her parents own the general store for the island so the boy likes to help out in the shop. The family decide to partake in this Holiday scheme where a city child stays on the island for a week. When the children arrive, Fran hopes with her heart that they get the chubby, friendly looking, happy girl. But when they get the other girl, (who steals, does graffiti and a lot of other vandalising things), their lives change forever…
The author of this book is a gifted writer. I have read another one of her books which is for younger children and hope to read a lot of her other great stories.