Maggie Rainey-Smith has sent in, as she occasionally does, a review of a new young adult book she's just read and was impressed by. It seems to be a useful sort of book for a particular situation...

'Last night I attended the launch of Frances Cherry’s new young adult novel ‘Flashpoint’ (published by Scholastic) at the Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie. And today I read the book. It’s that sort of book – you open it, start reading, and feel compelled to finish. The title is very well chosen and the subject (family break-up) not new, but endlessly new, when and if you are the family concerned.

Frances attends to the whole family in her story but it is told through the eyes of Charlotte the bewildered daughter, who hitherto thought her life and family blissfully happy. Her relationship with her mother, father, brother and current boyfriend through the crisis, are chartered with humour and understated normality as they adjust to their newly “abnormal” reality.

They live in a very nice suburb with a garage (remember this is Wellington, so, already we’re into luxury) plus a swimming pool (sheer extravagance in Wellington) and Charlotte has just celebrated her 16th birthday – Flashpoint! You will have to read it; I’m not giving the whole story away.

It is a very good read; touching, in a down-to-earth and believable way, on the very ordinary (but when it is your family “extraordinary”) disintegration of a marriage and the after-shocks.

At the launch, France’s writing was compared to that of John Marsden (praise indeed). Buy it, read it, and see for yourself! A great gift for any teenager for Xmas, but particularly relevant, if you are going through a similar crisis. And if you love dogs…'

Thanks for that, Maggie. And speaking of dogs, I've just finished the long-awaited Cowboy Dog by the late, great Nigel Cox. Wow. I'm still mulling it over, but will post a review soon. Arf.