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14-year-old Finch Franconi lives with his twin sister Birdie, elder sister Wren, younger brother Jay and their parents, who run a circus and circus skills training school on the outskirts of a small country village in Northern Ireland. Finch and Birdie have a trapeze act and are inseparable, even though their distinctive dress sense makes them a target for school bullies led by Kitty Bond and her Bond Girls. They're used to hanging out together, especially as Finch has never recovered from being dumped as a friend by James Keane (who's dating Kitty Bond and joins in the bullying from time to time), but when bookworm Hector Hazzard starts at the school, he's keen to be friends with them despite Finch's objections.
With the Franconi Circus in financial trouble, Birdie starts a blog to try and encourage people to sign up for classes, and the family and some of the kids at the training school plan to put on a show to earn money to save the business. When Birdie suffers an accident, the show is put in doubt as Birdie and Finch's act was supposed to be the highlight. Hector's keen to help out, but he's un-coordinated and clumsy, and Finch is frustrated both by Hector's ineptitude and his own growing feelings for him ...
Kelly McCaughrain's debut YA novel is a charming story of romance and the strength it takes to be yourself, with Finch the vulnerable and defiant hero, coming to terms with being gay.
Paperback, 380 Pages, Published April 2018
Author: Kelly McCaughrain
"Witty and clever. This novel really does sparkle." Roddy Doyle