Chickens by Julie McLaren
*****
This is not a warm cosy read, but an excellent challenging and thought-provoking one.
Jordan is in care with a troubled past and difficult present. Tony is the slightly dysfunctional individual who becomes Jordan's mentor. As the story progresses and pulls you in, Tony's mundane existence which revolves around his job, his unwanted chickens and his flat, now as empty as his life after the departure of his girlfriend, begins to unravel.
His own past is coming back to bite him.
With both main characters I sea-sawed between sympathy and frustration, but they were always convincing and believable. And the eventual conclusion was totally unexpected, and it is very clever the way the end is not entirely tidied up, just like in real life, sadly.
A great, if not entirely happy read.
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