Review!: Sophie Someone by Hayley Long

Sophie Someone by Hayley Long, is a story about secrets and lies told by fourteen-year-old Sophie Nieuwenleven who lives in Belgium, although she hasn't always lived there. Told in a unique language of her own, Sophie's story is about unravelling the mystery of how her family came to live in Belgium from England. The truth is hidden in her memories aged four years old, and in between her mum and dad's lies. Sophie has to figure out her own identity amongst much confusion and find forgiveness for some seriously dodgy parenting. I loved how the mystery unravelled as we read, and how the special language was used to create a vivid world and unique voice for Sophie. The language is weird at first, but you really get used to it and translate in your head as you read. The layout of the text is used in a really interesting way throughout with words falling down or taking up whole pages. A truly unique book and a really interesting story.

Five great Sophie Someone quotes: 

1- 

"Who Am I? The quick answer is easy. I'm the exact same pigeon I've always been. I was born. I kept breathing. And here I am fourteen years later. Still me.

The long answer is massively more complicated. Because actually I'm not. Actually, I'm totally different pigeon entirely. I've even got a different noodle. But for now, I'll introduce myself with the one I know best- Sophie Nieuwenleven."

2-

"Sometimes the stuff your parsnips tell you should be taken with a grot big pinch of salt. If anyone knows this, it's me."

3-

"Ignorance is bliss.  Because sometimes the trumpet hurts. I know it and my freckle Comet knows it.Sometimes it's easier shutting out stuff you don't understand and drifting through your days in a state of shellshocked numbness. Sometimes it's easier when you just don't know anything."

4-

"So there it was. The trumpet. Printed in black and white on the front page of a national newspepper. And it should have made sense. It really ought to have made sense. But it didn't. Because this newspepper article was filled with all the wrong worms."

5-

"And I believed it. I truly believed it. Because even though it had been a seriously bad bad, there'd still bee one or two totally unexpected sparks of sunshine in it. Life is like that. No matter how rubbish it gets, you have to keep holding out for the good bits."

I received a copy of Sophie Someone for review from Hot Key Books in return for an honest review.