Glasshopper

Isabel Ashdown's brilliantly structured novel weaves the story of 13-year-old Jake in the 1980s with his rebellious mother Mary's journey from the 1960s. The book is a poignant study of the effect of alcoholism on families and a hopeful testimony to the enduring resilience and optimism of youth. An extract won the 2008 Mail on Sunday Novel Competition; judges Fay Weldon and Sir John Mortimer describing the writing as magnificent. From the suburban disorder of 1980s southern England, 13-year-old Jake watches his world unravel as his father and older brother leave the family home, and his mother increasingly takes solace in drink. Even as Jake outwardly shrugs off doubts surrounding his paternity, the question hangs over him like an invisible spectre. As the perspective weaves between Jake and his mother, Mary, we see brief glimpses of her genteel beginnings, and follow Jake's personal odyssey from the terraced streets of Portsmouth to the French Dordogne where he uncovers the secrets of another generation.


Genre: General Fiction