James Minter's Blog: Writers do it in Public... - Posts Tagged "bereavement"

The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair by Lara Williamson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Modern family are frequently complex with single parents, separations, divorces, remarriages and many other combinations and variations in between. For adults this is a testing time, but for children of all ages, it’s often incomprehensible.
In “The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair”, the author Lara Williamson, follows the lives of the brothers Billy and Becket Rumsey. With no mother their father is doing his best to give them a family life, but his life is not so simple either. The story is told through the eyes of Becket, aged eleven and the elder of the two boys, as he struggles with his father’s relationships on the one hand, and his younger brother Billy, who blames himself for them having no mother. At seven years of age Billy has a confused view of what happened, and believes that somehow it was his fault for the trouble the family finds themselves in. As children do, Becket wants to make it alright for Billy, but he’s being told platitudes by his dad, who in turn wants to protect his son’s from what’s happening in his own life, and make everything okay. On top of all this, Becket is troubled by good-byes, and the fact he never had chance to say good-bye to his mum.
Lara handles the whole situation with care and sensitivity. This is a children’s book primarily, and she is conscious that what she writes has the potential to impact her audience who may be dealing with very similar situations happening in their own lives.
Her writing style and use of humour first seen in her debut novel “A Boy Called Hope” is maintained in this book making for an engaging and enjoyable read.



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