Six Impossible Things

i just finished Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood. i am head over heels in love with this book.

dan is our 14year old geekboy protagonist. his life isnt going so well right now. the family business has gone down the drain. dan's dad has just come out of the closet and flown the family nest. dan's great aunt adelaide has just died and left her house to the historic homes trust with the stipulation that dan's mum can live it until she dies too. so it is this artifact infested, cat pee odoured victorian gothic terrace that dan and his mum move into as an alternative to a cardboard box on the street (although the cardboard box may have smelled better). and it is the local public high school that dan is enrolled in, friendless, muscleless, and with a coolness level of zero.

however, the catpee terrace is also the house next door to the beautiful estelle and the high school is also the learning institute attended to by the beautiful estelle. the beautiful estelle that nibbles the insides of her school jumper cuffs, learns the cello and sends cherry ripes to her friend in new york cos you can't get them there. the beautiful estelle dan hasn't actually met yet...

this book has everything i have ever wanted in a YA novel! it has mothers with Thom Yorke obsessions, possible serial killers in converted stables, hilarious and bullshit-free bestfriends, elderly dogs that dispense excellent life advice, late night tree descending escapades, fantastic cafes and store owners with an obsession with polar fleece. and a refreshingly mad yet sensible, slightly whingey yet self aware, and utterly, utterly, allover gorgeous main character.

thankyou Fiona Wood, cos through Six Impossible Things the lovely yet bonkers Dan Cereill has inserted himself quite firmly into my group of book people friends (i think Dan and Anne Shirley will get on famously) and i am super grateful to you for introducing us.