About the book
Romilly lives in a ramshackle house with her eccentric artist father and her cat, Monty. She knows little about her past – but she knows that she is loved.
When her father finds fame with a series of children’s books starring her as the main character, everything changes: exotic foods appear on the table, her father appears on TV, and strangers appear at their door, convinced the books contain a treasure hunt leading to a glittering prize.
But as time passes, Romilly’s father becomes increasingly suspicious of everything around him, until, before her eyes, he begins to disappear altogether.
In her increasingly isolated world, Romilly turns to the secrets her father has hidden in his illustrated books, realising that there is something far darker and more devastating locked within the pages…The truth.
Review
Romilly lives her life through the eyes of her adoring father. The single father raising a daughter, a man who puts pen to paper and creates stories for everyone to enjoy. This exposure of her life comes with a lack of privacy and at times even danger and transgressions. The stories carry the suggestion of a hidden treasure, which tends to generate the interest of many - not enough interest to care how Romilly is dealing with being the main character in a series of books though.
The only thing keeping her halfway sane is her strange, domineering and unkempt friend, who comes and goes as they both go through the different stages of growing-up. They agree, they fight and ultimately the best friend can also be very manipulative at times.
Romilly also has to cope with a disinterested mother, and a parent who is so involved with himself he neglects her emotionally, psychologically and physically. There is still some semblance of love at times, but is it love or just a means to an end?
Although this falls under the YA category for me personally even though it is certainly a coming-of-age story for the majority of the story, it wanders far beyond those boundaries. It's a complex combination of mystery, discovery of self and sexuality, the almost incestuous leanings of a confused and distraught parent at times, the guilt and the neglect.
There are just so many aspects of this story I would love to go into each fascinating element in depth, but would absolutely give the plot away by doing so. (Arrgh) It's such a multi-layered piece of work. I loved the way Crosby went from literary to contemporary to mystery and speculative. All within a blink of an eye. The reader is never quite sure which thread to grasp onto at any given time.
It's a brilliant story with an ending which suits the beginning and a middle that pays homage to the past. A wonderful story. One that speaks of a culmination of imagination and coping techniques, after many years of solitude and mind games.
Buy The Illustrated Child at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ; pub date 29 Oct. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.
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