About the Author:
Multi-award-winning author Mary-anne Scott - lives in Havelock North. She is a children’s writer: Snakes and Ladders (Scholastic); Coming Home to Roost (Penguin) and Sticking with Pigs (One Tree House), Spearo (One Tree House), Fantastic Mr Bean (One Tree House) and The Tomo (One Tree House).
Snakes and Ladders won the NZCYP Best First Book Award in 2011. All Mary-anne’s books have received Notable Book Awards from the Storylines Trust. Sticking with Pigs and The Tomo were finalists in the young adult and middle fiction categories NZCYP awards in 2019 and 2022.
More at: https://maryannescott.com/
The Mess of Our Lives
About the Book
Sometimes acceptance is at the heart of freedom.
Jordan Baxter, a talented songwriter and musician is determined to keep his home life a secret. He lives with his mother who has a hoarding disorder and his little sister, Tabitha, who is not thriving in the filthy, cluttered environment their mother calls home.
When Tabitha is injured, the family is thrown into the spotlight, forcing Jordan to choose to be free of the mess, and the fear of pity he believes surrounds him.
At the heart of this new-adult novel are questions of love and honesty, and the lesson that acceptance is freedom.
Other Titles from this Author
Publication Date
October 2024
Reviews
An enthralling, complex story, upbeat and promising despite the gruesome mental health issues at its heart, with a hero I was cheering for all the way through, written in the strong, compelling style that has become Mary-anne Scott’s trademark. I absolutely loved this. Chris Sanders
The Mess of Our Lives is a visceral deep dive into a world of cyclical trauma and neglect. Jordan is brave, furious, tainted and talented in the face of his mother’s overwhelming issues. I was immersed in this story of family, love and stolen childhood and buoyed up by its message of hope. Louise Ward [Wardini Books]
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