Second Fiddle

Siobhan Parkinson, has joined the ranks of Irish writers for children to be published by a leading British publishing company', in this case Puffin Books who last week launched her new book Second Fiddle.

The narrative is in the dual voice technique used in her Bisto Award winning book Sisters….No Way as it recounts the two very different takes by two girls on the same events.

Mags Clarke is the tough realistic one, whose father has recently died and who now lives with her mother in a new bungalow close to her grandfather and to the woods where she meets Gillian. Gillian, dominated by a mother called Zelda and all that name implies, is a musician who has just been invited to audition for a place at the Menuhin School of Music in England. Brendan, her father separated from Zelda, sees this as an impossible notion, even a financial trap set up by Zelda. Mags however thinks it her duty to put things right ie to interfere.

In Parkinson's hands it all turns into a delightful, highly comic tale that is underpinned by some very serious consideration of parental/child relationship. Equally excellent is the delineation of time and place. I particularly like the description of a summer afternoon in the small town of Ballymore. Many of us will recognise the numbing authenticity of this. Great stuff. Great summer reading.

Second Fiddle by Siobhan Parkinson from Puffin Books  €7.99  Age: Girls 10 to 12.

Tony Hickey