Always Angel
Always Angel represents those who are not always in the spotlight. Whittam gives a voice to her protagonist, Angel, who is living in foster care, and coping with her parent’s mental health problems. Whittam creates a genuine and sincere world in which Angel exists, and writes with flair to present authentic characters. While Angel struggles to hold onto her relationship with her mum, she also must confront toxic friendships, all while competing in the school-wide baking competition. While baking, Angel shines brightly, now all she has to do is avoid lunchtime detention!
Themes of loneliness, peer pressure, anxiety and anger abound and Whittam writes fearlessly, allowing her characters to exist, flaws and all. There are an abundance of narrative threads, skilfully interwoven, and the reader will be racing to the end, while simultaneously not wanting it to be over.
Young adult readers may find the themes and topics easy to relate to and may enjoy exploring these themes from a safe vantage point. Questions are asked of the protagonist around what a real friend is, and many times the author highlights when friendship descends into the territory of ‘frenemy’. This book may help with navigating what friendship really looks like.
While many children pass through foster care, it can be a topic which isn’t well represented. Whittam’s characters bring Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker series to mind and establish a fresh narrative to the concept of living in care, one firmly rooted in the twenty-first century.
