A cross-over book. I hate hate hate the term but never mind, I have found a book which was written for adults but which I think will have enormous appeal to readers of, say, 13-18.The dedicated readers among them will be at the stage of dipping backwards into Harry Potter and whatever else is up there on the teenage stage, and moving into some classic and contemporary novels. It is hard to get it right if asked to recommend, as I so often am, a book for this age range and stage of reading-life, though for girls at least, I CAPTURE THE CASTLE and THE PURSUIT OF LOVE and REBECCA always work. But those are older and I am not in touch with writers like Jodi Picault or the chick litters because they don`t appeal to me. This says more about me than them but there you are.

WHAT WAS LOST by Catherine O`Flynn. I was led to this by the boys at Crockatt and Powell who have been raving over it. And it is good but when you think of it as a book for 13-18 year olds, it gets better.  It is about a small girl who pretends to be a private detective, and  a Shopping Mall and the loss of both parents and  a toy monkey. It is touching, unusual, perceptive. Set beside the best contemporary fiction I think it gets a bit lost but I would hand it to any young person and expect them to get right inside it and close the door behind them.