Ghost Children by Sue Townsend
First and foremost, allow me to proclaim my love for Sue Townsend, one of the many authors I’ve looked up to since my adolescent years without whom my first amateurish book to ever be miraculously published 6 years back which was lazily titled “The Secret Diary of a Messed-Up Teen”, wouldn’t have been possible (obviously largely influenced by the Adrian Mole series).
Don’t be misled by the title, this novel isn’t about a spooky tale. In Ghost Children, we meet Christopher Moore and Angela Carr, who were happily in love with each other, until the day Angela got pregnant. She underwent an abortion and refused to marry Christopher. She had instead married Gregory, a younger, more financially equipped lad. She and Christopher had not seen each other for 17 years. Ever since then, Christopher could not stop thinking about what had happened to their baby. He is still haunted by the past and is desperate to find Angela for answers and to find closure.
While he is jobless and hoping, Angela is working in a travel agency and binge eating to dispel her sadness. Along the way we meet druggie Crackle, his naive girlfriend Tamara and their baby Storme. The fateful meeting of Christoper and this dysfunctional family had set off his desire for a child more than ever. Christopher starts to track and confront Angela about their past. They rekindle their love for each other and are bent on starting anew, but are stymied by their current situation. Eventually though, Angela and Christopher, Crackle and Tamara, got what they had wanted but not without sacrifices and pain.
Ghost Children is different from her usual works of fiction (as she is more famously known for her Adrian Mole series). It is a fresh and gritting take on a story about pain and loss. I have always loved Townsend’s compelling observations on the characters, sometimes quirky, direct and startling details which reflects her trademark wit and mocking humor in her stories.
In Ghost Children, you will find that each character has a secret they are unwilling to confess to one another because they are afraid of the pain they would inflict, hence the burden weighs heavier on their shoulders and they are dragged down with unhappiness. This novel shows the darker, heavier and undoubtedly sadder side of what Townsend is capable of producing, but I firmly feel that she is still the master humorist and observer. Ghost Children is satisfyingly good enough a read, but nothing could compare to her Adrian Mole series, for me at least!
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