Rating: ***** 5 stars

Alyssa Brugman
Walking Naked.
Faber, 2004.

Published in Australia, this novel more than deserves shelf space over here. Narrated as if by 14-year-old Megan, who is very much part of the in-group at school, it describes the travails of one of Perdita Wiguiggan, a bright girl in the same class. Perdita has more than her name to put up with; nicknamed 'freak' by the other girls, she is a loner at school and neglected at home. Her only comfort is poetry, and for a brief while Megan almost enters into her secret world too. But the dangers of appearing to opt out of her all-powerful group seem too great, and Megan allows herself to join in Perdita-baiting once again, with tragic results. Megan is not an appealing child, constantly putting herself first. But she learns some valuable truths as the story progresses, and so too may readers should they have ever been in a similar position themselves. Excellently written, making clever use of poets from Sylvia Plath to e e cummings, this is a book to read and then read again.

Nicholas Tucker