LITERATURE
HOLLY BOURNE Am I Normal Yet? This special ten-year anniversary edition of Am I Normal Yet? celebrates a whole decade since Holly Bourne’s first outing with her beloved creations: the three girls who form The Spinster Club. This novel is where we first meet teenager Evie, slowly rebuilding after a breakdown: her debilitating, cleanliness-focused OCD and anxiety wrestled under control thanks to medication and therapy sessions. She’s just started at a new sixth form, which gives her a real chance to reinvent herself. Her desperation to ‘be normal’ leads Evie to come off her meds – all she has to do now is keep her family happy, stay on top of her coursework, navigate teen life and keep her condition hidden from her new, brilliantly feminist girlfriends Amber and Lottie. After all, they couldn’t possibly be friends with someone as ‘crazy’ as Evie, right? Relationships of all kinds are what Bourne writes best. Lifelong friendships, sibling rivalries, parental guilt, burgeoning romances: it’s all expertly captured on the page. The intense, relatable writing will send you right back to awkward adolescence: bewilderingly unpredictable and frustrating boys, uncomfortable dinner halls and the joyful ferocity of young female friendship. But the heartbreaking passages depicting Evie’s battles with her OCD are most deeply affecting. Now printed with fresh covers, and a foreword from undisputed queen of YA Jacqueline Wilson, this special edition is one to gift to lovers of Holly Bourne’s work, or a neat way to introduce a new generation of teens to this funny, informative and reassuring writer.
FACT OVER FICTION Top picks for young adults who prefer a non-fiction read
Talk To Me MUNROE BERGDORF
A Greater Goal
Another brilliant, exploded encyclopaedia, with facts and figures compellingly displayed. This edition celebrates nature’s part in our lives; great for young environmentalists. Rewild: Can Nature Heal Our World? BEN MARTYNOGA ILLUSTRATED BY MOOSE ALLAIN
An eye-opening read for anyone still celebrating the Lionesses’ legendary win, this documents the US women’s national soccer team’s struggle for fair treatment and equal pay. The injustice and sexism will make you throw the book at the wall in outrage. ELIZABETH RUSCH
How do you make a real difference in the world? Activist, model and author Munroe Bergdorf returns with a guide for young people looking to find the cause that ‘lights them up’. It’s packed with tools and insights for making lasting, impactful change.
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2025 27
Powered by FlippingBook