My Name is Leon - utterly fabulous!

And now onto the letter W, which brought me, by chance, to Kit De Waal and after a short search on Audible, I selected My Name is Leon. This is the story of a year in the life of a boy called Leon, and begins just before he turns nine, when his baby brother Jake is born. Although the two boys have different fathers, Leon is besotted with Jake and, as their mother Carol is a bit of a mess both physically and psychologically, it is Leon who ends up trying to take care of them all. Needless to say, he cannot manage it for long, and when the authorities find out what's going on, the boys are taken into foster care by the wonderful, no-nonsense, Maureen. Leon believes this will only be temporary, but then the unthinkable happens - Jake is adopted, leaving Leon behind. He doesn't know what to do with himself, and becomes anxious and angry. Luckily, he is given a bike, and this at least allows him to get out of the house and expend some energy. Soon he discovers an allotment and finds two very different father figures, and he begins to spend more and more time there. But Leon misses his family, and decides that the only thing to do is to find Jake, then go to their Mum and be a family once again. Set in the early eighties, this story is interwoven with race riots, a royal wedding and the parlous state of social care. The characters are glorious and the story is heartbreaking, funny and uplifting without ever being mawkish. The dialogue is excellent and the journey of Leon is totally believable. You cannot help but root for him. I know this is a book that that will stay with me for along time and I have to admit, I was very sad when it came to an end. And coming soo, there's to be a BBC adaptation of this wonderful book, featuring Lenny Henry, who narrated my audio edition with real heart and skill, barring a slightly dodgy Irish accent for one of the characters - but I can forgive him that as the rest was so good! With Sir Lenny on board, I am expecting great things!!!!

My STAR rating: FIVE (no surprise there!)

Length: 272 print pages.

Price I paid: £5.84

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.