She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book about coincidence. Coincidentally, I went to Hay-On-Wye literary festival, and met the author and bought this book. (Actually, I’m not really sure if that was a coincidence since the trip was planned…) Anyways this book certainly got me addicted. I went to the campsite, and read it for the majority of the afternoon in my tent (when there is rain in Wales, you read.) Then, I came home, and finished the final few chapters. Then, it dawned on me. I really, really loved this book.

I’ve not really been very interested in coincidence. It happens to me, and I say ‘wow’ and I’ll be amazed for a little while, and then forget it ever happened by tea-time. Deja-vu however, has the ability to freaks me out more than coincidence, and I find a Deja-vu incident a lot harder to explain to other people. However, I felt that ‘She Is Not Invisible’, dealt with this aspect really well and explored coincidences and chance in a very clever way. I liked how the number 354 cropped up a few times, and the book itself was full of coincidences, the last page of the book is 354.

I loved Laureth, the main character. She was such a strong young woman, it’s her choice to go across the Atlantic to try and find her father, she’s strong-willed and really cares about the people that she loves. She trekked across New York with only a seven year old brother and a stuffed raven named Stan. And Laureth is blind. She does not let her disability to stop her. She was an excellent character, definitely a role model, and I applaud Marcus Sedgwick for giving me a small insight about what it is like to be a blind teenager.

This book is refreshingly different from his Gothic historical novels, it was less serious. I loved that aspect, I found that there were many humorous points, such as Benjamin’s conversations with his stuffed raven toy. However, this didn’t stop the serious and clever points of the book such as Laureth and Benjamin’s father’s Black Book.

Marcus Sedgwick is one of the best YA authors out there. It is such a shame he is so underrated, as each one of his books I have read have been a gem.


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