I absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down, I was so absorbed in it. It’s told from the point of view of Jesika, a four year old girl who lives with her Mum and baby brother. She’s very inquisitive and asks lots of questions and the author captures her voice perfectly.
It made me laugh and cry this story and I want to read it again and again. But it’s definitely not for the faint hearted

Home is an extraordinary debut novel and yes there will be comparisons to Emma Donoghue’s Room because the narrator, Jesika is 4 and a half years old, however unlike Room I instantly connected with Jesika and as a parent my motherly instincts went into overdrive.

Jesika lives with her mummy, Tina and her baby brother, Toby in a flat full of damp, mould, broken windows, cracks in the bath, unreliable heating and an unscrupulous landlord.

Jesika is the most adorable, insightful, excitable, emotional little girl ever. Her innocence and view on the world made my heart break. There were several moments during the book I had to take a deep breath before carrying on because despite her innocence I was able to see what was happening around her and it felt very uncomfortable not being about to stop and help.

There are several topics which are deeply disturbing, however they are dealt with sympathetically and sensitively. This is only the second book I have read in my life that I read in one sitting starting at 8pm and finishing at 1am in the morning and not regretting a minute of staying up way past my bedtime. It is wonderful and uncomfortable in equal measures and one that I would definitely recommend.

Some books are just extra special and will stay with you for a long time after reading...this will be one of those books. The idea of it being written from the point of view of the child gave it more impact, it was heart wrenching, powerful and reminded me of the strength of a mother's love and what it can overcome. Beautiful book and can't wait to read more from this author

This is a story of the damage done to children when their childhood is disrupted. It could be a death in the family, it could be a broken marriage, it could be fear, pain, tragedy or trauma.
Jesika tells us her story, from her four year old point of view. And we can of course fill in the gaps from the adult conversations that Jesika overhears. Jesika lives with her mum Tina and her baby brother Toby, her best friend is Paige and they are all included in Jesika’s tale.
I enjoyed the story. However, I really really didn’t like the “baby spellings”, the phonetic writing. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Jesika knows some very adult words which she spells properly and then simple words which she doesn’t. Lose that and you will. Have a much more readable book. It went from being slightly quirky (first few words) to downright annoying and really put me off going back to this book

Same old story of a young child's point of view, blah blah blah. Right? No, wrong!

Sometimes the writing is a bit annoying, who would want to listen to the ramblings of a 4 year old for that long... But it isn't like that, the story soon pulls you in and soon you are on the same roller coaster of emotions. Awful at times from an adult perspective, but seeing the poverty stricken life from a small person's view is completely different.

Loved it, will be buying it for presents all year I think!

Never read a book like this before. It is written through the eyes of a 4 year old little girl but it's clever the way Amanda tells of difficult subjects but how a young child would see it. The book covers hard things such as child abuse, single parenthood, death, illness and dodgy landlords and housing situations, but through the eyes of Jesika. An unusual read but definitely worth reading

"Home" is Amanda Berriman's debut novel and I knew I want to read it as soon as I've received an email from NetGalley with a short extract from it. It is not the easiest book - storyline - wise - but it is also a read that will have you gripped and that won't let you go."Home" was not the easiest read. It made my stomach turn and I wanted to slap one of the characters with my bare hands. It was heart - breaking, probably because it was so close to reality, and I think the fact that the author handed over the narration in the little Jesika's hands made it even more harder and it totally mess with our emotions.

Jesika, as a narrator, works brilliantly. She's not too mature even though she knows a lot - she's just a very sensible, vulnerable child that experiences things that she shouldn't experience. Seeing world through her eyes is authentic and genuine and honest and you are immediately drawn in - we see things through the four - year - old girl's perspective and those things are perfectly portrayed. We can totally relate to what it is to be a four - year - old and how it is to be a child in this grim reality where the adults not always take you seriously, how it is to be powerless, how hard it is to attract adult's attention to what is really important. The way Amanda Berriman got into Jesika's head and told us this story is actually breath - taking.

However, I am in minority here with my opinion, I know, and while I absolutely, totally appreciate what the author has tried to achieve with her story, it just didn't work for me on all the levels. I am not sure what Amanda Berriman wanted to tell us here and on what should I focus. The two main storyline, the one about Jesika and her family and then Jesika and her friend Paige felt for me under - developed. They were started off but the execution has felt for me here. The subplot with Paige annoyed me incredibly, I just couldn't believe that her mother didn't see the obvious. There were parts in this story that I reckon were not necessary, like Jesika spending time at the foster family - I just think this book could do without it.

But even though it was a hard book to read because of the topics it touches upon, a sense of building dread because you know what's coming, it was easy to read. The writing style is seamless and it effortlessly transports us to Jesika's world and it is very realistic. It is not overdone, actually it is worryingly close to life and you easily imagine all the things happening. However, it is not only doom and gloom, as there are some uplifting things in the story as well - the power of friendship, of finding allies when you're not expecting it at all.

Altogether, "Home" was absorbing, gripping and heart - breaking read with realistic characters that you quickly fell for and with very realistic topics, pointing at the importance of being open and of communication between parents and children. Written with a lot of understanding and subtlety and ultimately I think it was me, and not the book that wasn't quite right. It was a powerful read and I can't put my finger on what was wrong for me but it just didn't work for me as much as I'd like it to. However, don't let me to dispirit you, just go and read this book and you'll see for yourself how powerful and emotional it is. I am already looking forward to Ms Berriman's another book.

Writing in the POV of a four year old child could easily have backfired. The tone could have been too precocious, or too cute, or just annoying. But somehow Amanda Berriman manages to sustain the narrative throughout the entire book keeping it convincing, compelling and utterly believable. Four year old Jessika lives with her mother and baby brother in a small flat. It's all she knows, to her it is home, safe, but to her mother it's a symbol of failure and despair as she struggles to pay the rent to the sleazy landlord and keep her children healthy in an overcrowded, damp flat with used needles on the stairs. When her mother meets up with some old friends it's a tendril of hope in her difficult life. Gradually Jessika senses there is something not right but how can she communicate it when no one listens to her and her small life spirals out of control?
Home is many things. It's an unflinching look at austerity Britain, at how the most vulnerable are affected, how poverty influences every decision in a family's life, how easily it can creep up on anyone. It also brilliantly shows the world from a child's perspective - the fear and anxiety, yes, the lack of autonomy in almost every way, but also the wonder of jam sandwiches, a rainbow in a puddle, a smile from a kind adult. Every politician should read this before making decisions to cut yet another benefit, but everyone else should read it and remember what it was like to be four.

Poor housing conditions, child abuse , foster care and being a member of a single parent family through a child's eyes. gives a very good insight into all these, written in the language of a 4 year old child. Tina has 2 children, but it is through her 4 year old daughter that we actually feel her reactions. Poignant, sad and shocking, plus some laugh out loud moments. This book disturbed me yet I could not put it down. Excellent reading.

Home is a very different kind of book that I've read before and thats because it is told from jesika's own words and own eyes and thats different because Jesika is only 4 years old.
I have to admit when I started this book I didn't know how I would cope with the wording, spelling etc being told in a young narrative voice but let me tell you after the first couple of pages I couldn't put this book down.
Jesika is 4 years old and lives with her younger brother and her mum in an awful flat living on the bread line and this is seen through her eyes and Amanda has done a fantastic job of highlighting things that are curious to the young eyes of Jesica that we as adults don't see anymore. You can tell as you advance through this book it is going to be at times a hard read and it is but is written about delicately. I couldn't put this book down and read it in a day and although you know what is happening, Jesika doesn't and you so want to rescue her and her family from that kind of life. Although this book has some hard topics in it Amanda has done a very good job in keeping it not too depressive and having an almost laughable tinge to the good bits keeping you hopeful and uplifted.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Seldom do you come across a debut novel that has such an impact as “Home“. Written entirely from the viewpoint of a tiny, four-year-old girl, the novel touches on issues with important social observations. At first I was taken aback by the way she spoke, but after a few pages I could actually hear her little voice, and the pages flew by.

Jesika Petrowski lives is a run-down, derelict apartment building. She lives with her Mummy, Tina, and her baby brother, Toby. Their flat is a damp, squalid place with broken windows, mould on the walls, an oven that doesn’t work, and heating that is undependable. In her innocence, Jesika draws pictures on the wall by joining up the dots of mould.

“…our house is shivery-cold and all our breathing is coming out of our mouths like smoke.”

Jesika’s mother, Tina Petrowski, is a tragic figure. A young woman with no family support, she is forced to rely on strangers for help. And help she needs. With no financial help from the children’s father (who has returned to their native Poland to live), her despair is palpable. Both she and her baby son, Toby have chest infections and Toby’s condition is worsening on a daily basis. He coughs and coughs until he vomits up his milk. Tiny lives up many flights of stairs and must haul Toby’s ‘buggy’ up and down those stairs every time she goes out. She has to go out a lot as there are no laundry facilities in the building and Jesika attends preschool in the afternoons. Feeling poorly and despondent, her temper is sometimes shorter than it should be.

“Mummy does big noisy swallowing and then she says, “There’s no one to help, Jesika. I’m on my own and no one can do anything for us and I don’t know how much more I can take.”

Jesika’s innocent observations make for many bittersweet moments. Her simple joy at being fed jam sandwiches, a kindly grocer who pulls a ‘magic’ strawberry from behind her ear, the beautiful rainbow she finds in an oily puddle during a rainstorm.

Sometimes, because Toby is poorly, Jesika’s Mummy cuddles him more that she cuddles Jesika, which makes the little girl jealous and sad.

“Mummy only wants to cuddle Toby”.

Jesika makes friends with Paige at preschool. But Paige has troubles of her own – dire troubles indeed…

Then, just when you thought circumstances for the little family couldn’t get any worse, baby Toby is rushed by ambulance to the hospital. Whilst there, Tina is also diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted – leaving young Jesika to go into foster care.

“I have to live somewhere else and it might be so so far away that Mummy will never find me.”

Jesika’s overwhelming fear of abandonment are understandably escalated by these traumatic events. She waffles between fearing her mother will never come back, to the childish certainty that she WILL come back.

“Mummy is coming back to get me. She’s coming to get me when she’s not poorly. She won’t make me find a new Mummy cos I’ll be helpful and good and I’ll never shout at her ever, ever, ever again and I’ll always eat all my pasta even with no cheese. She’s coming to get me soon. She is.”

The story, told in the innocent and naive voice of Jesika is heart-rending to the adult reader who views it with an all too vivid clarity.

The book succeeds on a variety of fronts. It causes the reader to have more empathy for young children, as we quickly forget what it is like to live in the world as a child sees it. It strikes upon many socially relevant issues: poverty, low-income housing, child abuse, etc.

All-in-all, I loved Jesika’s story and recommend it to all who appreciate fiction that at once entertains and educates. “Home” spotlights the very best, and the very worst, of human nature. Didactic and heart-breaking, yet heart-warming. Even though tears will likely be shed, “Home” is still a lovely read.

Little children have big ears.

Jesika is four and a half and lives with her mummy and brother, Toby. They live in a slum flat with mould and broken windows. Jesikas’ mum and brother are taken to the hospital and she is put into foster care.

Jesikas’ mum meets an old friend and her daughter and Jesika desperately wants to be Paige’s friend, but Paige is a frightened child who cannot express or tell anyone anything about the horrible games her uncle makes her play.

A story of modern-day poverty told through the words of a four-and-a-half-year-old.

I read this book quite quickly and it was well written. The story is a sad one and all too real. However, it is told by Jesika in her child-like language which, although it gives the idea of how a child thinks, 300 odd pages of child-speak irritated the hell out of me and I found myself correcting her out loud!!! Therefore, I read the book so quickly, just to get through the agony.

Saying that I also found it hard to empathise with the mum as she was very proud and found it hard to accept the help she was in no position to refuse which could have had disastrous consequences.

All in all, I did not enjoy this book very much, but that could just be my view on things, so give it a read and make up your own mind.

Shesat

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

What a debut novel, it will break you and leave you in pieces, but it’s worth it as you be left thinking about this book for a long time after, you’ve read it. It was gut-wrenching and well written, the way the story is told from the point of view of a small child is new and brings a different view to the story.
The subject matters are difficult ones and Amanda Berriman has done an excellent job of dealing with them in this endearing story.

Such an unusual read. Told from the perspective and in the narrative of four year old Jesika we are entered into a world of desperation, poverty, child sex abuse, true friends and the most wonderful love of a mother. Read in one day this brilliant book will keep you hooked. Sad, heartbreaking and joyous all at once. Wonderful dialogue as Jesika explains things like moles (mould), fecshun, infection and green man and green lady, paramedics!
#Home #NetGalley

There have been a number of great books written from the perspective of a child release recently, and this is no exception.

What makes this book stand out is the innocence of Jesica, the 4 year old narrator, as goes through some horrifying situations which to her are normal everyday life. What makes it heartbreaking is there is usually someone around to help, but a 4 year old doesn’t understand how to explain what is happening to her and those around her. The author has done a fantastic job of putting you inside the head of a child.

The only reason I have given this 4 stars instead of 5 is the ending is a little over the top and unrealistic, which is a bit disappointing as the rest of the story is so well done. I would still highly recommend this book.

What an amazing book. I loved the way that the whole story has been told by a child using childlike spellings and in general lots of misunderstandings. I consider this book should be required reading for any pregnant lady to help explain some of the thought processes of a child and how easy it is for adults to convince a child that they should keep secrets. From the very start this is a compulsive read showing a side of life that many would prefer not to know about. There are so many injustices in this country and the authorities do not always treat them I’m the correct manner. For those who are happily ensconced in their own lives it is too easy to group people incorrectly. We see a run down area with people living in uninhabitable places and often think that life is their own fault. This book brings so much injustice into the open in such a clearly descriptive narrative. For the social aspects alone I would love to see this as compulsive reading material for all secondary children.
I cannot give enough praise for such an informative novel.

I wasn't sure about this at first - a novel written from the perspective of a 4 year old. But WOW! It packed a powerful punch. I genuinely couldn't put this down. It is very easy to read although you feel something is going to happen so I read with a growing sense of dread. I loved Jesika's descriptions, the words she used and the feeling that this really was told by a 4 year old. I think after reading this most parents will listen more closely to their children, and pay more attention to their own actions. Tina is a very loving and caring mum, but sometimes Jesika's observations make it seem as if she isn't. When she describes being dragged along the road. And spiky voice and cross face. It caused me feelings of guilt about what my children may have experienced (in a normal chidlhood, but in moments when i, as a parent, maybe didn't pay enough attention to their feelings), and how we take for granted what they understand. Very powerful underlying themes of sexual abuse, child poverty and bereavement.

This book had me reading into the small hours of the morning. It is a heart-wrenching story about a mother and her two children and the difficult life they live. Written in the eyes of a small child (Jessica) the adult themes are cleverly written about in a way which shows the innocence of a child. There is a strong theme of friendship and trust and so was a refreshing read. I will definitely be recommending this to my book group.

Jesika is four and a half. She lives in a flat with her mother and and baby brother and she knows a lot. She knows her flat is high up and the stairs are smelly. She knows not to draw on the wallpaper or touch the broken window. She does not know that their landlord is going to evict them and that Toby's cough is going to get much worse. Or that her best friend, Paige, has a secret that will explode their world!

This story is told by a confused and vunerable child. By the time you realise what this story is about, you are half way through the book and there is no way you will put the book down as you will be totally hooked. Don't get me wrong, this is a difficult story to read. This book will mess with your emotions. This is a book that you will be thinking about for a long time after you finish it.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and the author Amanda Berriman for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Stress-inducing child's point-of-view story, with themes of poverty and child abuse

I say 'stress inducing' for I have NEVER felt such a need to plunge into the pages of a novel and pull out a character, save them from the unfolding plot, wrap them in my arms and keep them safe, warn them... it was hard to bear. Especially as a parent, and because the protagonist was also narrating, a little girl, even younger than that of 'Room'.

This might even top Room in my opinion, for its narration - Jack was a precocious 6 year old. Here Jesika is two years younger at 4, and tells us the story of her life in her own words and through her own young eyes.

With a single struggling mother, and a sick baby brother, Jesika tries to be a good and helpful girl, doing her best to befriend a new girl at nursery and being friends with the people she meets.

She is just so well-conveyed - her understanding of the world so beautifully childlike and naive.
The misunderstandings ring true and give her such authenticity that it hurts to see her situation: she watches 'Nina and the New Rons (Neurones)', has to visit the "hopsipal" with her brother.

And seeing a horrific situation unfold through Jesika's unknowing eyes is so, so difficult, but so wonderfully well wrought. It feels tense without being tense in the story. As you, the reader find it dawning on you what it going on, the horror of it may bring tears to your eyes as it does to mine.

It was so hard to watch a beautiful young girl, her family, her friends, going through this. Jesika may not understand what she can see, but WE can, we want to jump in and help... I'm feeling my body tense again just thinking back to it.

Excellent child's point-of-view telling, it must have been very hard to do with such coherence.

This subject matter might put some readers off, but actually, it doesn't become graphic, only very uncomfortable and emotionally difficult to think about as a detached observer.

Jesika... I haven't forgotten you even a few days after finishing this. I want your brother Toby to be okay.

This will hopefully be the next 'Room' though due to the subject matter may not as easily be seen as a successful film. Please consider reading this, you'll not often find a better child narrator.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-reading copy.