Bookwagon The List of Things That Will Not Change
The List of Things That Will Not Change (C) Bookwagon extract

The List of Things that Will Not Change

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Bea’s life is divided perfectly between her mother’s home and her father’s. While Rocco lives with her father and Jesse, Bea has Red at her mother’s. There’s also the rainbow that has hung over her bed since she was very young, before her parents split up, and Dad went to live with Jesse.

As Dad and Jesse plan their wedding, Bea worries about her mother. She worries about Anjelica who fell off the loft during their summer holiday, when Bea felt excluded by her cousins and the girls in another cabin. Sheila, Jesse’s sister, includes Bea, so she has great hopes for a ‘sister’ in Sonia, Jesse’s daughter. Yet, Sonia, is a tougher nut to crack, despite Bea’s letters. It seems like Sonia is reluctant to commit to sharing a life between her Dad’s and Mum’s, like Bea does, Furthermore, she doesn’t seem to need to be a sister, like Bea.

We work through four years of Bea’s experience as a child with ‘two moons’, two views in her life. While her parents are perfectly amicable and happy, Bea worries for their happiness and well-being. We share these worries and observations through her letters, experiences and notes in ‘The List of Things That Will Not Change‘.

Rebecca Stead’s books are outstanding. There is no showmanship or stardust, but warmth, humanity and empathy. We are delighted to welcome a new title by this award-winning writer to Bookwagon. 

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Description

The List of Things that Will Not Change

Rebecca Stead

(Andersen Press)– hardback

At the top of The List of Things that Will Not Change Bea has written ‘1. Mom loves you more than anything, always./2. Dad loves you more than anything, always.’ Thereafter Bea clings to these truths, as the list, written in green pen grows longer.
The list is begun in the year that Bea’s parents separate, when she begins to shuttle between their two homes. Although she knows that she is central to their worlds, there is a lot to assimilate. While Jesse, Bea’s Dad’s fiancé and his sister, Sheila, are welcome additions, Bea worries about her mother. She knows that her mother’s face betrays her feelings, just like hers. Bea learns to hold back rather than act upon her worries, but it’s hard, especially when Jesse’s daughter, a potential sister, comes to stay. Bea wants this relationship so much. She wants to feel ‘like there’s someone else in [her] boat’. When she stays with her cousins at the lake, she’s alone, the moves between her parents are alone, and then there’s the constant exclusion from spelling test lunches.
The themes and considerations of this story are shared by Anne Fine in Shades of Scarlet.
The opportunity to read a book by Rebecca Stead, from Liar & Spy to First Light, is a celebration. The List of Things That Will not Change is outstanding- inward looking, considered, word perfect and recognisable. Bookwagon is overjoyed to recommend this wonderful book.

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