Stained

Cutting Edge

by Joanne Hichens

In a poor district on the outskirts of Cape Town, Grace lives with her adoptive mother. Of mixed race, Grace dreams about what her birth mother is like and is plagued by a deep sense of not belonging. Rebelling against her adoptive mother's smothering influence, Grace turns to close friend Shardonnay and her sister, Crystal.

Genres: Young Adult

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

I live in a seaside suburb of Cape Town called Muizenberg and swim most early mornings in the sea. It’s wonderfully refreshing and helps me to get ready for the day ahead. And of course I love reading – mostly crime and thriller fiction. I’ve read all sorts of crime fiction, from Agatha Christie when I was young, to the more contemporary hard-boiled authors like Elmore Leonard and Bill James. (And of course I scoff chocolates when I’m reading, which could be considered a hobby!)

When it comes to novels for young people, I’m a fan of Mallory Blackman and Stephenie Meyer – both spin a fantastic yarn!

I had always wanted to write, and was lucky enough to get onto a creative writing Masters programme at the University of Cape Town about eight years ago. I don’t believe one needs a degree to write, but committing to the course really threw me into the deep end, as I had no choice but to deliver a novel by the end of my two years part time study. That novel is now in my bottom drawer – I suspect a good number of first novels are lurking in various writer’s drawers! – but I’d love to get it out and rewrite it. I’m not sure why I wanted to write. I just had this overwhelming desire to write a book, and finally tried my hand at it, only to discover writing is a bit of an addiction – I want to do more!

Reviews

[Nataliec7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a great Young adult book. I picked this up from the library sale as it looked like it would be an interesting read and I've recently been reading a few of this genre of book. And it packs a punch and I think its great. Crystal, teen mother with a little boy Ricardo, living with her mother who is bitter over a previous miscarriage, a sister who is out at all hours and is able to finish school and a step dad who drinks a lot. She has a neighbour Grace, also a teen,who is interested in helping Crystal out and finding out her perspective of teenage motherhood. However Crystal doesnt want to talk about what she is feeling and just writes in her journal. She is struggling but doesn't really tell anybody what she is feeling.
In 235 pages this book covers rape, sexual abuse, drug abuse, teenage motherhood and suicide. It left me with a bit of sadness. But a must-read.