Karen Wallace’s Wendy is a novel inspired by the children’s classic Peter Pan, but it is no fairy tale. It is a story of Wendy in a real world, in the dark late Victorian period — A Wendy that has to deal with domestic problems such as child abuse, parental indiscretions, alcoholism, family problems, and other social issues.
I wouldn’t actually recommend it for younger readers, because the summary on the back of the book doesn’t give one a clue that it’s not a tale of magic and wonder… It might actually be quite traumatic for the younger reader, because Wendy’s pain and the poignancy of the story is all too real.
It’s a good read for those who can appreciate it however. Wendy is a troubled child who lives in a world that forces her to grow up, and her best friend Thomas is a 15-year old boy with a case of autism, her very own Peter Pan.
It’s a clever adaptation, neurotic at times, but moving to the end.
***
My copy: trade paperback, a bit spotty now after living in Enzo’s dorm for about a year… (Brothers, harr…)
My rating: 3/5 stars