Considering Helen

by Ann Pilling

A mystery story focusing on bereavement and madness. Helen Chapman is an enigma in her village. When a young child is murdered in the woods nearby, she is drawn into the troubled community where the mystery of her own tortured past emerges. Ann Pilling won the "Guardian" Award for "Henry's Leg".

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 6, 1994

About the author

Born in 1944 in Lancashire, British poet and children's author Ann Pilling read English at King’s College, London, where she wrote her thesis on C.S. Lewis' fiction. She has published over thirty books for children, one of which - Henry's Leg - won The Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction. She has two sons, six grandchildren, and currently lives in the Yorkshire Dales. Since 2003, she has concentrated on writing poetry, rather than fiction.

Reviews

[Virginia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd enjoyed A Broken Path by this author and thought this would be the same kind of loopy character study, but this isn't that. It isn't a mystery as the blurb suggests, but it certainly does dwell on bereavement and madness, especially the madness. It starts off with a four-old-girl whose raped and murdered body is found in the woods, and goes straight downward from then on. There isn't one single understandable character here; the plot meanders all over, and I couldn't find even one person to sympathize with. I'm not an easily shocked or triggered reader, but this book did irritate and annoy me and I can't think of one living person I'd recommend it to. 1 1/2 stars.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm, not a great book, haphazard story, shallow characters and a rushed ending. It had its moments but all in all I didn’t enjoy it.