Sky High: A Novel

by Helen Falconer

Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' rollLondon stylein a racy second novel about a teenager's taboo extracurricular activities. Disenchanted pretty-boy Ferdia is having a hell of a time. His dad has run off with an embarrassing pop star and his mom is shacked up with a local hooligan half her age. Meanwhile, gangs at school want to beat him to a pulp, and he feels increasingly detached from Matt (his pissed-at-the-world best friend) and their post-punk, "Tower block rock" band, Boybits (f.k.a. Coked-up Badgers). So when sexy Cassandra, the young, new English teacher, takes a very pointed interest in his music and wellbeing, Ferdia is thrilled, not to mention smitten. However, this is no ordinary schoolboy crushthe two can't get enough of each other. Ferdia's on cloud nine...until, on a dime, the line between lust and obsession proves razor thin, and a series of mind-blowing eventsplus a shocking discovery about Cassandra's pastpush him to the brink. Erotic, provocative, and gripping, Sky High has an intensity and pace that will leave readers breathless.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2003

About the author

See https://www.helenfalconer.com/bio
"The Story of a Strange Marriage" is not my work, I don't know why it's there and I cannot delete it. (I've tried!)

Reviews

[Helen Falconer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixteen year old Ferdia is caught between his separated parents and his dad's new, younger, live in lover. If he can survive them, his groundbreaking garage band just might take off. But Cassandra, his 30 something teacher, has more grown-up designs on him.
Funny, erotic and tragic by turns, soap opera gets street cred in Sky High.

[Alja]

got about halfway through, not gonna finish because it's super gross for me to read - the thing that bothered me the most is a manipulative relationship between a 16yo boy and his teacher who threatens him with suicide etc. if he tells anyone about their relationship - but there are also other unhealthy relationships all around. it's really well written though, has excellently timed humor and very relatable characters but yeah. power-imbalance relationships are really difficult for me to read.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow. I read this book a long time ago, like Freshman year in High School? Or it might have been the summer before I started High School. I don't remember but I remember this book. I loved reading about taboo subjects. Seeing the world through a different lens.
I need to find it again (I picked it p in my library at the time), I want to re-read it.

[Kate Kerrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read primrose Hill, Falconer's first book, I moved on to this and found it EVEN BETTER. Laughed out loud and cried even louder. So evocative. Teenage boys are human - who knew?

[Zev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say it, but this was a soap opera. It rammed in tons of serious issues while the writing style made it seem like nothing was happening. Rtc

[Jayne Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author has a clever way of coming at you with thought-provoking issues from behind an entertaining and often very funny story. In amongst this tale of marital breakup, alcoholism, rock music and unlikely heroes, there is a depiction of abusive relationships that don't always look the way you expect. The descriptions of the council estate with its 'shaved six year-olds' and scarily streetwise preschoolers were brilliant. Thought provoking without ever resorting to preaching: I loved this book.