Book: Black Heart Blue

Review by: Tara, 16 from Carmel College
Price: RRP $26.00

‘Black Heart Blue’ by Louisa Reid is the dark, yet uplifting tale of sixteen-year-old sisters Rebecca and Hephzibah. Although the girls are twins, they could not be more different – outgoing Hephzibah is beautiful and popular while Rebecca is deformed and introverted. Together the girls have endured a life of suffering at the hands of their uncaring mother and cruel, domineering father, who is the town vicar. Terrible secrets are concealed within the vicarage walls, woven into the girls’ very existence.

When the twins start college, it seems as though there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel – they have the opportunity to gain an education and therefore a means of escape. But when free-spirited Hephzibah goes one step too far, Rebecca is left alone to cope with her father’s abuse. Will she find the courage to speak out about how life really is behind closed doors?