Black Heart Blue
by Louisa Reid
Publication: 25th July 2012
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Pages: 266
Genre: Contemporary/ Thriller
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
Price: $16.99
Hephzibah: You've no idea what it's like having a freak for a sister.
Rebecca: Born first, prettier, Hephzi's always been the popular one.
The Father: When he was busy with his bottle we were usually safe. Usually.
The Mother: Her specialist subject was misery and lessons of painful silence ...
Hepzibah and Rebecca are twins. One beautiful, one disfigured. Trapped with their loveless parents, they dream of a normal life. But when one twin tragically dies, the other must find a way to escape. Because if she doesn't, she'll end up like her sister.
Rebecca: Born first, prettier, Hephzi's always been the popular one.
The Father: When he was busy with his bottle we were usually safe. Usually.
The Mother: Her specialist subject was misery and lessons of painful silence ...
Hepzibah and Rebecca are twins. One beautiful, one disfigured. Trapped with their loveless parents, they dream of a normal life. But when one twin tragically dies, the other must find a way to escape. Because if she doesn't, she'll end up like her sister.
My Thoughts.
This was such a gut-wrenching and chilling book, that will send a shiver down your spine and have you still thinking about it hours after you've turned the last page!
This is a courageous story of a seventeen year old girl, who manages to overcome the adversity that tragically killed her twin sister.
This was a hard book to read in the sense of the abuse that these two sisters endured at the hands of their father - the local vicar - and the complete indifference that the mother showed to his treatment of them.
What I loved was the alternating chapters, Rebecca' s took place after the funeral of Hephzibah ' Hephzi', and Hephzi's chapters detail what happened to her leading up to her death.
I never would have picked this up myself it's only because I received this book for review that I gave it a go and I'm so glad that I did.
Although you know that Hephzi's story is never going to end well you still read along hoping that there will be some kind of a miracle and Rebecca and her could escape their miserable life, but ultimately it's not to be and you really feel the urge to get to that last page and make sure that Rebecca makes it out alive and happy and away from her sorry excuse for parents whom have never shown her or her sister love of any kind.
What makes it worse for Rebecca is her facial deformity Treacher Collins Syndrome, which unfortunately makes her the victim of their father's beatings more often than not, after reading the name of her deformity I immediately researched it on the internet to get a clearer idea of what it was so I could understand it more, and I loved that not only do we get a fantastic story but also the chance to learn about a facial deformity that I'd never previously heard of, but it also brought to light the mean comments people say about others suffering from any kind of deformity, I loved that towards the end Rebecca was able to feel more comfortable in her own skin and to be able to look people in the eye and not the ground that she was so used to doing.
The ending did bring me to tears when you realise the full extent of what these two girls went through and the people who turned a blind eye and just let it continue on which sadly resulted in the death of Hephzi.
Unfortunately this happens in real life all around the world every day, and if we only helped instead of ignoring the signs things like this wouldn't happen.
I highly recommend everybody pick this up.
I give this 4.5/5.
A Big Thanks To Penguin Australia.
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