Book The Sevety-Eighth

I Am Not Esther by Fleur Beale

Kirby’s mother disappears, leaving her to live with an uncle whom she never knew existed; an uncle who is a member of a strict religious community where Kirby’s personal freedoms are curtailed to the extent that she has to change her name to the more Biblical ‘Esther’.

This is an alright book, but nothing special. I quite like teaching it to Year 9s at my Catholic school, as it gets them thinking about religion in a way that most of them never have before, but that’s the only reason I reread it this year.

This is probably not going to satisfy you if you’re an adult, but if the concept sounds interesting, I suggest you check out Beale’s non-fiction Sins of the Father.

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