My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece: Book summary and reviews of My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Summary

My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece.
Well, some of her does.
A collarbone, two ribs, a bit of skull, and a little toe.

To ten-year-old Jamie, his family has fallen apart because of the loss of someone he barely remembers: his sister Rose, who died five years ago in a terrorist bombing. To his father, life is impossible to make sense of when he lives in a world that could so cruelly take away a ten-year-old girl. To Rose's surviving fifteen year old twin, Jas, everyday she lives in Rose's ever present shadow, forever feeling the loss like a limb, but unable to be seen for herself alone.

Told with warmth and humor, this powerful novel is a sophisticated take on one family's struggle to make sense of the loss that's torn them apart... and their discovery of what it means to stay together.

Ages 12+

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Reviews

"Starred Review. Realistic, gritty and uplifting. Ages 10-14." - Kirkus Reviews

"Starred Review. Pitcher tackles grief, prejudice, religion, bullying, and familial instability through the unsentimental voice of a boy who loves Spider-Man and Manchester United, misses his mother, and - truth be told - doesn't remember his dead sister all that well. The adults in Pitcher's story may be a mess, but the kids are all right. Ages 12+" - Publishers Weekly

"It lives off the page. It has a warmth you can bask in; an honesty you can cut with a knife." - The Guardian (UK)

"Compelling and believable... by turns heartbreaking and hysterically funny... This is an important book that could be used in classes and book-discussion groups. Don't let it fall through the cracks." - School Library Journal

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Annabel Pitcher graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English Literature, and went on to edit television scripts for the comedy Harry Hill and the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. Annabel started writing My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece longhand in Ecuador, on a round-the-world trip. This is her debut novel. Visit her online at www.annabelpitcher.com.