At the End of Holyrood Lane

At the End of Holyrood Lane by Dimity Powell and Nicky Johnston (EK Books) PB RRP $24.99 ISBN: 9781925335767

Reviewed by Anne Helen Donnelly

Flick is like any other little child. She likes dancing with butterflies, tumbling through leaves and basking in the sunshine. But, she never knows when it will storm at her house. These storms smother the sunshine and ransack the fun. And when these storms are very loud, they make her ears hurt and her head throb. They make her feel smaller than she really is.

So, Flick has learnt to hide away from the storms. She has found really great places to hide and she can hide for a long time. But one day a monstrous storm strikes. It is darker and louder than ever before. She tries to ignore it, but it leaves her sodden and shaken and brings her to finally act. She seeks help. And it works. The storm leaves and the sun comes out, and it never storms again.

This is a sensitive book with a message of hope, bringing to the fore a child’s perspective of domestic violence and how it makes the child feel. This book should strike a chord with any child who has experienced any domestic violence and will afford a glimpse of such a situation of anyone who hasn’t. The uplifting ending will give hope to readers that help is at hand and send the message that regardless of how young you are, you can change things.

At the End of Holyrood Lane is a children’s picture book for children ages 6 and up. It is beautifully illustrated with gentle pictures that convey the varied emotions of this story. It has been endorsed by organisations including Act for Kids, Paradise Kids and Think Equal.

At the End of Holyrood Lane

At the End of Holyrood Lane by Dimity Fletcher & Nicky Johnston (EK Books) HB RRP $24.99 ISBN9781925335767

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This picture book tells of Flick, a small girl who loves to chase butterflies and jump in heaps of leaves, but who is terrified of storms. The first storm which arrives is shown in an illustration of Flick indoors looking to outside where ‘angry clouds muscle in and wild winds bully the curtains.’ Doubtless any child reader with a fear of storms would take the visual and written text as depicted on surface value.

However, the information sheet which accompanies the review copy says, ‘(the book) provides a sensitive glimpse into one aspect of domestic violence and how it can affect young lives’. Yes, Flick is shown hiding indoors day and night ‘in places where the thunder cannot reach her’. But until there’s an illustration – just one – which shows the silhouetted profile of a person in a storm cloud, there’s no real indication that the storm Flick is reacting to, could possibly be caused by an adult.

Flick flees outdoors where a black storm ‘seethes and snarls… drenching her in its fury’. There she does something she’s never done before – she seeks help. Once again, outdoors in an angry storm, she is embraced by a woman with an umbrella. Her confession works, the story tells, and ‘the sun comes out’.

This book is visually arresting and the words well written. And it’s one of the most difficult things in a book for young children to depict domestic violence. But one must question whether a child would see the duality of meaning in this picture book given its text. And, too, finding a solution to domestic violence is never easy for anyone – adult or child. Just telling an adult is not as easy as it seems. And too, in this book the simple act of telling immediately solves the problem.

Doubtless the book creators and the publisher mean well. They have tried valiantly to highlight and remedy a malaise which is too common in our society. Certainly, the book shows a child’s anxiety and fear of a storm. And at the end of the story when the storm has gone, we see the little girl still anxious that the storm might return.

The only way to see if this book can be understood by small readers is the test of time. A caring adult reading it to a child could use At the End of Holyrood Lane to prise out the underlying meaning through probing questions and sensitive disclosure of the book’s message.