It's ok

The narrator, Jamie, has been through quite a bit in his short ten years. His older sister Rose was the victim of a Muslim terrorist bombing in London five years prior, an act that killed his sister in the most horrible of ways, but also destroyed his parent’s marriage and left Rose’s twin Jasmine nearly invisible as well. Jamie’s mother then runs off with a man from her grief support group, so Jamie’s father moves the three remaining family out into the country to give them “a fresh start”. But when Rose’s urn is yet again placed front and center on the mantelpiece, Jamie and Jasmine know that life is going to be no different there than it was in London. Their dad drinks himself into a grieving stupor each day and it’s up to the kids to care for themselves and their house. Jamie loves his dad and wants to understand, but he really doesn’t even remember his sister Rose, as he was only five when she was killed. Jasmine, on the other hand, remembers everything, and resents her mom for abandoning them and trying to turn her into part of the shrine to Rose. When the only person in school that will befriend Jamie is a Muslim girl, Jamie is torn between his father’s racist beliefs and his own need to have someone in his life that just maybe understands him. Reviewed by DH