“We don’t pick and choose what to be afraid
of. Our fears pick us.” Tash Carmody
has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary
friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time
nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn’t
real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory’s never spoken about the week she went
missing. As disturbing memories resurface, Tash starts to see Sparrow again.
And she realizes Mallory is the key to unlocking the truth about a dark secret
connecting them. Does Sparrow exist after all? Or is Tash more dangerous to
others than she thinks?
Small Spaces is a smart, fast-paced book, in which
the line between reality and imagination is blurred.
The idea
of imaginary friends in YA is so clever and it makes Tash an unreliable
narrator, which I always enjoy. I loved trying to figure out whether or not
Sparrow is real and how much Tash’s memories and actions can be trusted. Tash is fleshed out really well as a character, with her fears and interpretations
of events feeling very genuine.
I also
thought the plotting of this book is clever and well-paced, with a good
balance of simmering unease and action.
This is an
intriguing, suspenseful read and I can't wait to see what Sarah
Epstein writes next.
Thank you so much Walker Books for the review copy!
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