My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece

This poignant novel, told through the eyes of ten-year-old Jamie, explores the devastating aftermath of a family tragedy. Five years after his twin sister, Rose, was killed in the London Bombings, Jamie's family is fractured: his mother has left, his father is an alcoholic consumed by Islamophobia, and his older sister Jasmine is deeply troubled. Jamie, too young to remember Rose, struggles to understand his family's profound grief while navigating a new life in the Lake District. He forms a secret friendship with Sunya, a Muslim girl at his new school, forcing him to confront his father's prejudice and his own developing sense of right and wrong. The book sensitively handles themes of loss, family dysfunction, and the power of empathy.