Levitation for Beginners

by Suzannah Dunn

It's 1972 and ten-year-old Deborah is living a ten-year-old life: butterscotch Angel Delight and Raleigh chopper bikes, and Clunk Click, and Crackerjack and Jackanory, 'Layla' and the Bee Gees, flares and ponchos.

But new girl Sarah-Jayne breezes into school, pretty as a picture and full of gossip and speculation, as well as unlikely but thrilling stories about levitation. The other girls are dazzled but Deborah is wary and keeps her distance. That same week, eighteen-year-old brickie Sonny turns up on her doorstep with a stray tortoise and begins an unlikely friendship with her young widowed mum. That's bad enough, Deborah thinks, but then Sonny starts work on a site opposite the school and Sarah-Jayne decides he's the latest love of her life. Nothing escapes Sarah-Jayne, and Deborah fears what she'll make of her mum. It's good to be different, her mum often says; but not, Deborah knows, too different.

So, Deborah changes tactics, keeping her friends close and her enemy closer, even stepping up for some of Sarah-Jayne's levitation sessions. Then she's invited to Sarah-Jayne's lovely house, where she meets her charming family and encounters Sarah-Jayne's big sister's fiance, Max, which is when she senses that all isn't quite as it seems.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Novels, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2024

About the author

Suzannah Dunn was born in London, and grew up in the village of Northaw in Hertfordshire (for Tudor ‘fans’: Northaw Manor was the first married home of Bess Hardwick, in the late 1540s). Having lived in Brighton for nineteen years, she now lives in Shropshire. Her novel about Anne Boleyn (The Queen of Subtleties) was followed by The Sixth Wife, on Katherine Parr, and The Queen's Sorrow, set during the reign of Mary Tudor, ‘Bloody Mary’, England’s first ruling queen. Her forthcoming novel – to be published in hardback in May 2010 – is The Confession of Katherine Howard. Prior to writing about the Tudors, she published five contemporary-set novels and two collections of stories. She has enjoyed many years of giving talks and teaching creative writing (from six weeks as ‘writer in residence’ on the Richard and Judy show, to seven years as Programme Director of Manchester University’s MA in Novel Writing).

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the damp summer of 1972 and 10-year-old Deborah is accustomed to the familiar rhythms of life in a small English village. The only child of a single parent, she sees everything reflected through the views of her mother, an opinionated young working-class widow. Then comes change: into this tiny world sweeps a new family in the village and a new girl at school. Sarah-Jayne is only Deborah’s age, but she dresses in fashionable clothes and is full of outlandish tales – she’s lived abroad, she’s tried alcohol, her house has a swimming pool... While the other girls are captivated, Deborah’s response is more complex. She both doubts Sarah-Jayne’s claims and is fascinated by her apparent maturity and mysterious knowledge.

There’s plenty of humour in Levitation for Beginners, much of it deriving from Deborah’s childish misunderstandings of things other people say (when she learns a boy and girl at school are ‘going out’, she wonders why the two of them haven’t left the classroom). Even so, it’s not hard to sense a darkness lurking beneath the surface. From the start, Sarah-Jayne seems disturbingly adult for a ten-year-old; this is, after all, the source of her glamour for the village girls. Place that alongside her oddly close relationship to her much older sister’s even older boyfriend, and the way she parrots his chauvinistic ideas about women, and a disturbing picture starts to form – for the reader, if not for Deborah.

Yet one of the main strengths of the book, for me, is how ambiguous it remains. Many major elements of the plot are only ever implied. Even when we seem to have confirmation of something, it’s essentially just hearsay. The voice is perfectly balanced between young Deborah and her adult reassessment of the events of 1972; her 10-year-old voice is distinct, but it never feels like you’re actually reading a child’s narrative (which neatly allows Dunn to get away with using the sort of evocative description a child never would).

Little about this book was what I expected, and it was all the better for it. It’s a quietly well-crafted novel: discomfiting without overt drama, comforting but not schmaltzy, and inconclusive yet satisfying.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the girls in Levitation for Beginners I was also 10 in 1972, and this novel vividly recreates the atmosphere of that era and is awash with accurate details of early 1970s life.

The narrative explores the often confusing world of adult relationships as seen through the eyes of the girls. I especially appreciated the half grasped truths that filtered down to them from the adult world.

The novel slowly builds a sense of unease as protagonist Deborah tries to understand new girl Sarah-Jayne's enigmatic behaviour.

Despite this sense of underlying darkness and mystery, the book is amusing and wittily written.

I loved it. Another accurate, convincing and evocative book set in the early 1970s and, whilst not much happens, this is a rewarding, captivating exploration of character and the past.

I'm looking forward to reading more books by Suzannah Dunn

4/5

It's 1972 and ten-year-old Deborah is living a ten-year-old life: butterscotch Angel Delight and Raleigh chopper bikes, and Clunk Click, and Crackerjack and Jackanory, 'Layla' and the Bee Gees, flares and ponchos.

But new girl Sarah-Jayne breezes into school, pretty as a picture and full of gossip and speculation, as well as unlikely but thrilling stories about levitation. The other girls are dazzled but Deborah is wary and keeps her distance. That same week, eighteen-year-old brickie Sonny turns up on her doorstep with a stray tortoise and begins an unlikely friendship with her young widowed mum. That's bad enough, Deborah thinks, but then Sonny starts work on a site opposite the school and Sarah-Jayne decides he's the latest love of her life. Nothing escapes Sarah-Jayne, and Deborah fears what she'll make of her mum. It's good to be different, her mum often says; but not, Deborah knows, too different.

So, Deborah changes tactics, keeping her friends close and her enemy closer, even stepping up for some of Sarah-Jayne's levitation sessions. Then she's invited to Sarah-Jayne's lovely house, where she meets her charming family and encounters Sarah-Jayne's big sister's fiance, Max, which is when she senses that all isn't quite as it seems.

*

[Lisa Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to put this book into words. I feel if I went into it with fewer expectations I would have enjoyed it more. The last 60 pages were the best but if I wasn't such a stubborn reader I probably wouldn't have finished it. This book was middle of the road, I enjoyed it, I don't regret reading it but I'm not sure I would Re read it. I enjoyed the ending and it was written really well but it felt like I spent the whole read waiting for something to happen.
I think the portrayal of the working class was well done but I feel I would have enjoyed this much more if I had been alive in the 70s as a lot of the references were lost on me.
Overall a good book, just didn't quite hit the mark fully for me.

[Sadie Parry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m unsure what to make of this book. It felt more like reading someone’s stream of consciousness rather than a story, but having not read anything by Dunn before that could just be her style.
Nothing much really happens, yet I found myself wanting to finish to see if anything did. The last 50 or so pages are where it gets interesting and questions are answered, albeit in a very ambiguous fashion.
I think I might have been lured in by the title and beautiful artwork, rather than the actual blurb on the back!

[Jo_Scho_Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s 1972 and ten year old Deborah is happy with her lot. It’s just her and her mum, always has been, always will be. She goes to a small Home Counties school with just a handful of kids in her year. But then Sarah-Jane rolls in, the new girl, all confident and bolshy. Deborah really isn’t sure what to make of her. Sarah-Jane is like a spider, busily snipping a web big enough to lure everyone in - and then she sets her sights on Deborah.

Levitation for Beginners is an enormously evocative book. As a child of the seventies I found so much of it familiar, the research and memories are spot on. But somehow I still didn’t get too attached to this one, I think the plot and the development was so vague and inconclusive that I found it difficult to get attached. I feel like I was expecting more than I got, which is probably harsh as this is a very well written book.

Perfect if you want a slow meander down Memory Lane

[Frida · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Saffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so thrilled to see that Suzannah Dunn had written another non historical novel and approached Levitation for Beginners with real excitement. I haven’t read any of the author’s historical novels but loved her early novels so much that I re read many of them in my 20s and 30s.
This is set in 1972 and told from the point of view of 10 year old Deborah growing up in a rural village. I grew up in the 1970s and so I loved the nostalgic feel of the novel with all of the 70s references. The author writes brilliantly and insightfully about friendship and I was completely drawn into Deborah’s world. The novel is fairly slow paced but I was immersed in the quality of the writing and loved this novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

[Lex Nicholls · Rating 2 out of 5]

A prime example of why it’s unwise to judge a book by its cover. I was drawn in by the cover art and the promise of the paranormal and the idea that ‘not all is as it seems’. This book didn’t really go anywhere until the last few pages. The scene setting worked well to transport me to the 70s but ultimately I didn’t care about any of the characters and the plot was severely lacking. I wanted more spookiness and intrigue as promised by the cover.

[p. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I like the idea of this and I feel like it had stable foundations but the execution really, really did not agree with me. Two things in particular jump out as pitfalls - one is the fact that the novel always felt like it was on the precipice of saying something but never quite made it over it. The other is the child-like narration. I understand that it was on purpose, of course, - however, there were several instances where it refers to the narrator being in their middle-age and reflecting back on this moment, only for those moments to quickly sink back into the mind of a child. Maybe I need to be of a certain age for this kind of narration to resonate with me again.

[flo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is by no means a bad book, but I did find it really boring. The whole story basically takes place in the last 100 pages of the book, the rest is just introduction and setting the scene. And as someone who’s not particularly interested in the inner life of an 11 year old school girl, i had hard time getting through. It is very well written though!

Also barely any levitation!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was good. It feels like a book that Philippa would like (I'm sure she'll read it and say she hated it). It's not as unsettling as I had hoped, but the twist wasn't what I expected which is always nice. It's kind of a narrative book, but I found it engaging - which is surprising for me. Very nice too.

[Alison Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book jumped out at me from a table in a quirky bookshop in Gairloch. When I took it to the counter to pay the shop assistant asked ‘ooo, is it actually about how to levitate?’……..

Nope, it isn’t. What it actually is, is a fabulously nostalgic look at being a child in the 1970’s. So much chimed with me. The story itself is almost secondary- read it and relive childhood memories!

[Ellie Zarrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is no 0 stars button. It just says no rating. I have a rating. It is 0 stars.

[Elinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic and detailed. So much but nothing at all

[Debumere · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw the main character was called Deborah I just had to read this. Deborahs are too and far between and as a Deborah myself, I had to champion this. It was ok, but a bit straight and boring. 5* for the Deborah.

[Neth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Beautifully written but most of the plot is given away by the blurb

[Paula Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully evocative of the time - I was transported back at my primary school in the 70s where we were similarly challenged and also tried levitating…

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

...surely anyone could see that this new girl was . . . well, what? I wanted to say she was a liar, although I couldn’t think of any actual lies she’d told. It was more that she was somehow all lies, I thought: made of lies; one big lie. [loc. 1399]

The setting is June 1972, somewhere in the south of England. Deborah (who's looking back from the vantage point of her sixties) is one of a close-knit group of girls in their last year of primary school. Deborah is the clever one: come September, she'll be going to grammar school while all the rest of them go to the local comprehensive. She has a secret crush on Tutankhamun, a widowed Scottish mother given to gnomic pronouncements ('the way to make me strong, she thought, was to make me scared') and a love of swimming.

Then comes Sarah-Jayne, whose family moves into the Vicarage -- which allegedly has its own swimming pool -- and everything begins to change. Sarah-Jayne has a fancy haircut and a red trouser suit and proclaims herself in love with David Cassidy. Sarah-Jayne goes out for lunch with her sister's boyfriend Max, who lets her drink wine and buys her presents. Sarah-Jayne tries to teach the other girls to levitate. And Sarah-Jayne, Deborah realises, doesn't know the secret at the heart of her own family.

In some respects, nothing much happens in this novel: it's a vignette of rural life and undercurrents that are only vaguely apprehended by the narrator. In other ways, it's an unsettling story about lies and sexuality and adolescent friendships. I'm just a little younger than Deborah and I recognised so much of my own childhood in this novel: even the characters' names were the names of girls in my class at school. There's a marvellous passage in the first chapter (it convinced me to buy the book) about the underlying horrors of the Seventies: Deborah concludes the litany of dangers with "I’m only half joking when I say I’m surprised that any of us lived to tell the tale." 

Reading this was weirdly nostalgic, but also horrific. It made me wonder about the secrets I didn't know in our small village, the kinds of secrets that Deborah observes but doesn't understand. And it makes me glad that I was blithely ignorant.

I’ve been lucky, I’ve led a sheltered life and to this day no one else has ever looked at me the way that man did ... He knew before I did that I could see through him. Which meant I was in his way. [loc. 3271]

[Jenni Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This enchanting story of Deborah, a bright 10-year-old raised by a young solo mum who does not conform to the mothering ‘wisdom’ of the times (1972 small town England) but is way more savvy than most, and Deb’s very relatable and amusing friendships with a clutch of other 10-year-old girls, took me back to my own childhood even though that was earlier than the 1970s and in another country. On reflection, in the late 1950s the 10-year-olds I was and knew were far less worldly than these kids; I think as the decades have moved on, so has the ‘sophistication’ of the children. So Deb’s 10 was more like my memories of me and my friends at 11 or 12. 10-year-olds today are very different again in their knowledge base, and it is mostly not positive… But this novel takes the reader right back to those lovely, innocent, childish days when levitation was possible (and we all tried it.) But wait, into the mix comes Sarah-Jayne, 10 going on 15, and bringing with her a seductiveness and seeming maturity that Deb isn’t sure she is ready to embrace. Why are her friends attracted to this newcomer, singing and performing on the sideline of the sports field to attract 10-year-old boys who she knows are basically boring? Why are they envious of Deb’s vague connection with 18-year-old Sonny, and why does her mum like him coming around? Does Sarah-Jayne really have a swimming pool in the big house they are renting and why is she always going on about Max, the fiance of Sarah-Jayne’s much older sister? This is a slow-burn novel, beautifully written, beautifully subtle, wonderfully nostalgic, and the ending one no reader will guess or even suspect! Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzannah Dunn’s Levitation for Beginners is a novel wrapped in the gauzy nostalgia of 1970s small-town England, but don’t be fooled—there’s something decidedly sharp lurking beneath the flares and Angel Delight. It’s a book that slips under your skin in the quietest way, spinning childhood innocence into something far more uneasy, a flickering trick of the light between wonder and wariness.

Reading this felt like peering through a rain-streaked window into my own childhood—albeit with more levitation. Dunn has captured the exquisite strangeness of being ten years old: the rituals of friendship, the magnetism of the exotic new girl, the way the world tilts imperceptibly with each revelation. Deborah, our narrator, is an unflinchingly perceptive child, watching her mother’s unconventional choices and Sarah-Jayne’s disconcerting charm with the kind of awareness that adults like to believe children don’t possess. But they do. Oh, they do.

Dunn’s prose is a balancing act—lyrical but not indulgent, precise yet rich with suggestion. This is a novel that trades in implications, in half-heard conversations and things glimpsed through half-closed doors. It never shouts its secrets; it lets you stumble upon them, wincing as you do. And just as Deborah is caught between belonging and observing, so too is the reader, always a step behind, never quite sure if they’ve got the full story.

The magic here isn’t in levitation, not really—it’s in the way Dunn lifts the ordinary into something luminous and disconcerting. This isn’t a book that dazzles in the conventional sense, but one that hovers just above the ground, waiting to pull you in when you least expect it. A well-earned place on the NERO shortlist and an even surer place on my bookshelf.

4.5/5

[B.S. Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enchanting story that walks that razor-thin line between friendship and something more, exploring the relationships that leave parts of themselves with us through life. It holds up a lens to magnify the power of friendship, the intensity and heartbreak they can bring especially as a pre-teenager, as well as bringing back some painful memories of that awkward age trying to figure out who you are while trying to be someone you’re not.

We walk through memories of Deborah’s pre-teenage years in the 80’s, and are transported back to a time when everything was intense and important, everything felt important and the world was so much smaller; with the oddly jarring effect of her recounting childhood thoughts but through the lens of a grown woman with a new perspective. The entire story took on that intensely dreamy nostalgia, almost like reading through a haze that became more suffocating as the secrets that are always hiding in a small town start to creep out.

The storytelling was a quiet stream of thought simply capturing a moment in time without any peaks and valleys or plot movement. It was lazy, but not in a bad way, in a very slowly relaxed way similar to those hot, long-summers off school that took its time and meandered playfully through school trips, discos and boys on bikes.

It was strange, everything took on this almost magical glow despite the mundanity of the surroundings, creating a real sense of child-like wonder that I’ve not felt in a long time. A portrait of youth and the love between friends, this was a striking and poetic story that will strike a chord with so many readers.

[Milly Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shortlisted for the Cafe Nero and this novel takes me right back to my childhood. Set in 1972, Debra is 10 (I was slightly older) and lives in small English village with her mother. Her father died when she was young and she has no memories of him. Her mother is not like her friends’ mothers - she is opinionated and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Told by an adult Debra, this is pure nostalgia. Sarah-Jayne arrives. There is a glamour about this new arrival that captivates all except Debra. Yes, she is fascinated by this girl with her fashionable clothes, her adult views but she has doubts about her as well. Sarah-Jayne is in love with David Cassidy - weren’t we all at that age - but she also tries to attract the boys at the school. There is a maturity about her that makes the reader have questions, even if Debra doesn’t. Sarah-Jayne talks constantly about her sister’s fiancé, Max, and the things he says ( which are almost misogynistic at times) and how he takes her to places and buys her things. Again this makes the reader question this relationship even though 10 year old Debra doesn’t. Lots of things are implied but never confirmed which makes this novel uncomfortable at times, especially at the end. A slow burn where not a lot happens but a novel that makes you wonder. For me, i loved all the references to the period and the mentions of the games, the TV, the foods - yes, it brought back memories. And before you ask - yes, I tried the levitation with my friends too. A real trip down memory lane

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the 1970s. David Cassidy's hair dominates the screens. Donny Osbourne posters adorn bedroom walls. Jackie magazine is a staple, and Alan Freeman's well-known apophthegm "All right? Stay bright!" Transports from your radios. Deborah, a ten-year-old girl, living her ten-year-old life navigating her small  but serious trials of childhood from curdled milk on her nightly Ovaltine to her sharp-tongue audacious Scottish mother, spiders in bathtubs and school fetes But new kid Sarah-Jayne disrupts the easy-breezy rhythm of oh Debora, da, da, da with her wild energy and reckless charisma.

Set in 1972, and despite the fact that I am a nineties kid, I was still swept away on a complete anemoia excursion to 1972. Born 70s, kids will no doubt feel a surge of nostalgia.Deborah is a level-headed and somewhat responsible child. Sarah-Jayne seems the opposite. Spreading rumours about the teachers. Inciting the girls around her to dabble with levitation  convincing them they can rise above the ground if they just believe hard enough. And she knows things. Things the other girls don't know. Adult things. And talks of older boys with knowing smirks.

 Deborah is suspicious of her intentions, and she seems to be the only one in the group to not be hypnoptised by her charm, so she keeps her distance. As time goes on, Deborah changes tactics, keeping her enemy closer. She gets a look into Sarah-Jayne's world, a world that hides cracks behind polished manners, her family’s money, and the effortless confidence she wears like a costume with an air of affectation masking something deeper. If like me you love coming-of-age books. Or books on girlhood ; you'll love this. Think Cats Eye meets Anita and Me.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend anyone who picks this up to go into it blind. It wasn't what I expected and I can't even fully explain why I loved it so much but I genuinely haven't stopped thinking about it since putting it down.
•
Though it's predominately set in the 70s during the main character's childhood, it still felt timeless. I'm a 90s/early 00s baby but I was constantly feeling nostalgic for my own childhood while reading this which I think shows how well it's written. To me it sort of felt like a memoir; the way we read Deborah looking back on her life as a 10 year old seemed very real and this is something that kept me gripped.
•
As lighthearted as most of the story seems, it's also not hidden that there's something deeper in play. This was another thing about this book that I actually really liked; it was never made clear exactly what this subplot surrounding the character of Sarah-Jayne was but it was easy enough to guess which I think gave her and our main character of Deborah along with the general story more nuance and layers. For one of the lighter moments, I have to give a special mention to the spider catching scene in chapter 8— it was so brilliantly done and so funny.
•
Overall, this is definitely one for fans of character-based novels rather than a solid plot. I also think it's a great read for any generation to enjoy and still find things you can relate to within. I really loved this one!

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group for my advance copy.

[Jackie Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic read. It has so much to recommend it - Deborah the ten year old narrator, the era it's set in, different but not so long gone, its deft and constant wit and psychological complexity of the characters and how they relate to one another. Suzannah Dunn is a great storyteller. She has a brilliant ear for how people speak to one another and the way she delivers those conversations on the page is like listening to music. She treats her characters kindly, with respect, so as a reader you are on their side even if you have your doubts. And her writing is intelligent. It took me a while to understand just how this novel worked on me and I realised it takes confidence and real skill for a novelist to write in the voice of a child and sustain the dramatic tension. But of course there are many classic and successful novels that present the world from the viewpoint of a child or teenager - Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's Purple Hibiscus are two examples. We trust a young narrator because of their innocence, their seeming lack of power. We witness them learning and the story we read is immediate and urgent for all those reasons.

[Lee Bouzida · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an enchanting but odd book. All of the way through, I believed this to be a comedic and enthralling tale of childhood, the influence of friends and the way that they shape our lives. I thought the characters were fantastic and full of life (if not perhaps a little on the nose at points), so much so they often reminded me of my own childhood, and my own friendships. That idea of losing innocence too soon has never been more important to understand than now.

However, as it comes to a close it sort of ruins it. It becomes about this relationship between mother and daughter and the sense of betrayal Deborah gets from her mother’s “tough love” parenting, with Deborah seemingly never to really understand, even when a mother herself. She has a sort of air of privilege that isn’t welcome at the end of this. Beyond that, the narrative of Sarah-Jayne ends far too abruptly, and feels unjustified.

Overall, very upset by the end of this because until the final few chapters this is rather brilliant. Dunn has captured that child-like wonder and confusion brilliantly. Looking forward to seeing what she does next, and next time, hopefully stick the landing.

[lalu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m unsure how I’m left feeling after finishing Levitation for Beginners.

It may be the case that as a Gen Z, I’m not the right audience as many of the 70s references went over my head. I do have a great appreciation for the way she writes from a young girl’s perspective and the UK primary school girls friendships felt very relatable.

At first I was taken aback by her writing style but I got used to it however I did have to google to clarify what actually happened as It felt a bit too fluffy to actually understand what was going on in the end.

I did really enjoy the first half of the book and got really into it however it felt like there was no real plot. This was again I think because I was not the intended reader: It’s much more of a social commentary of life as a young working class girl in the 1970s.

[Hilary Rowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 A lovely book about the last year of primary school in the Home Counties in 1972, seen through the eyes of 10yo Deborah, an only child with an introverted, possibly depressed, Scottish mother and a father who died when Deborah was very young. The "antagonist" of the book is Sarah Jane, an equally bright girl with the addition of wealth and sophistication and what seems to Deborah to be oceans of self confidence, making Deborah feel threatened and insecure.

Nothing really happens in this book, at least not until the very end, but it is so engaging and so fully immersed in its time that it was like stepping back in time to my own 70s childhood and into the obsessions of my own prepubescent mind. Deborah could have been me.

The ending seems tacked on and stops it from getting 5⭐️ and I don't know if the book will have the same effect on non-Gen X readers, but I found it delightful

[Book Bound · Rating 2 out of 5]

10-year old Deborah lives with her mum and its been the two of them for as long as she remembers. The world she sees at that age is reflected entirely through the views of her mother, until new girl Sarah-Jane arrives in Town. Sarah-Jane's dynamic with the other kids at school intrigues Deborah and the majority of the book explores this through various events. I enjoyed reading about the 70s, however nothing really happens in the book until the last 70-ish pages. I was also expecting more of a 'paranormal' read based on the description of the book and I dont think it lived upto this expectation. Also - there wasn't much mention of any Levitations, which I was disappointed about. Not much to say about this one as not much really happens apart from it being a good read of nostalgia, hence rated on the low end.

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book finished in 2025 on the first day of the year couldn't quite manage to finish it in time for the last of 2024. I was right back in the Seventies in fact a lot of things mentioned I had forgotton about and it stirred distant memories. I didn't feel like I usually do that things were clunkily dropped in to set the scene ( though they did come thick and fast) and I felt the author really got into the mind set of those ten year old girls and boys. It was a nice dark twist at the end. I loved the mother. She reminded me of how mothers were then my own included though I always knew how much i was loved.