Book description
Indigo's going back to school after a long bout of glandular fever.
He's not looking forward to it, as he knows the bullies will be waiting
for him. But he's determined to stand on his own two feet - so when
Saffy and Sarah break up a fight in the boys' bathroom, he's furious.
Until he meets Tom. Tom is over from the States for a term, staying with
his gran while his family sort out their own problems back home. He
loves music and joking and is unfazed by the bullies, slowly beginning
to win the class round. He helps Indigo to challenge his fears, and in
doing so is absorbed into the crazy Casson family and finds some answers
of his own. Rose adores him and is determined to help him get the guitar
he's been eyeing in the local music shop - but her attempts to help end
in disaster, leaving only one way out: Daddy needs to come back from
London to the home (and wife) he's been neglecting. Rose couldn't have
an ulterior motive, could she? Hilary McKay won the Guardian
Children's Fiction Prize with her first novel, The Exiles. Her
subsequent work has achieved recognition: The Exiles at Home won the
Smarties Prize, whilst Saffy's Angel, the first in the Casson Family
series, won the Whitbread Award, for which the third book, Permanent
Rose, was also shortlisted.
