Reviews for Always Here for You:
'Truly gripping.'
Saffia Farr, Editor, JUNO Magazine
'A must-read of our times.'
WRD Magazine
'A heart-stopping portrayal. Essential reading for teens and parents of teens - this book may well save lives.'
MIRIAM HALAHMY
Angela Kiverstein
'A crucial read - current and compelling.'
Penny Joelson
'Poignant, powerful and educational.'
Emma Suffield,
SLA UK School Librarian of the Year 2018
'Impossible to put down.'
Lucas Maxwell, Portable Magic Dispenser
'A very important book.'
From Bee With Love
'Compelling, insightful and urgently important.'
Fallen Star Stories
'A poignant book with a very important message for teens.'
A Beautiful Chaos
'A must read for all parents.'
Motherhood: The Real Deal
'Incredibly well crafted.'
My Chestnut Reading Tree
'An important reminder about online safety for a generation that often take the validity of their online relationships for granted.'
Sarah Churchill
Miriam Halahmy's novel explores the realities of online grooming. It is told from the perspective of 14 year old Holly. Holly is a middle class girl from Brighton. She lives with Mum and Dad who love her, care about her but due to circumstances such as work pressure and Gran's loneliness and fragility after the death of Granddad, leave her at home alone. This would not be unreasonable in normal circumstances but Holly is at a particularly vulnerable time. Her best friend since nursery school has moved away to Canada. They had been inseperable and Holly has no friends at school.
The novel follows Holly trying to make new friends and alongside this, meeting Jay, a boy online. The novel uses text messages and whatsapp messaging to tell the story of how Jay, another fourteen year old from a different school, become hopelessly engrossed in each other. Jay messages Holly all of the time, at 2am, at 3am and becomes desperate and sometimes sulky, when Holly doesn't message him back. Holly is flattered and soon even her newly forming school friendship group seem unimportant to her as she is increasingly flattered by and absorbed by Jay.
But is he all her seems?
Or is there something more sinister happening.
With the debate raging about Smart phones and teenagers access to social media, this novel is ever more significant.
It is pacy and gripping and easy to read. It would do well in all bookstores and in school libraries. It should be a classic for the PSHE reading list.
Miriam Halahmy's Always Here for You was nominated for the Carnegie Medal
