Review: Divine Clementine - Hayley S. Kirk

 

Review: Divine Clementine - Hayley S. Kirk - May 2012

Growing up Clementine has always wanted to be just like her Aunt Stella. To Clementine, who is only ten years younger than Stella has always thought of her as a big sister and her closest confidante. One night after spending the day together , Stella and Clementine head off to go their separate way when tragedy occurs and Stella steps out and in front of a bus. Over the next course of the week or more we read as Clementine known to her friends as Clem learns to grieve and move on with a life without Stella. What will happen though when Clem discovers that the Stella she knew wasn't the same Stella everyone else knew and the person she worshipped actually wrote how much she hated Clementine. A few days to a week after the funeral, Clementine and her mother and grandmother go to Stella's flat to clean it out. Clementine goes straight to her room and finds hidden a bunch of diaries written by Stella. Eager to find out more about her favourite Aunty , Clementine starts to read the diaries but what will happen when she starts to uncover the lies and that the Stella she knew and loved dearly never existed and that the "real" Stella , the one everyone else knew was in fact diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and was Manic Depressive. In learning this , it opens the book up to the reader and the questions of whether Stella's death was in fact an accident or did she really mean to step in front of that bus ? This was a well-written teen book and is an Australian book.