The Hollow Summer

Rating:
Summary: Depression made tolerable
Review: This book offers an intelligent, sometimes painfully honest, account of a teenager, Sara, suffering from severe depression. It is a touching and insightful novel, told from several viewpoints, and lightened with humour. The characterisation is strong and Sara's relationships with her parents, her brother and her therapist are well-drawn and entirely credible. The way in which animals/fish are involved in Sara's recovery should appeal to all animal lovers and convince more sceptical readers of the value of pet therapy. It is a book which deepens one's understanding of this frightening condition and ends on a hopeful, but not unrealistic note.