Let Down Your Hair: Bryony Gordon

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It just spends so much time talking about the world of social media influencers that the alopecia elements get shoved in at the end. Mel and Sid are determined to do this together, but they soon discover that pregnancy is totally different for boys and girls. In the words of Jess, her former best friend, “you’re nothing without your hair”, and Barb believes it. One who isn't confined to her bedroom on the 12th floor of the tower-block flat she shares with her aunt making content. Since the day she was born, Barb’s glorious hair has defined her existence, and the same is true as she turns sixteen.

And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way. In this stunning retelling of Rapunzel, Barb must learn that she is so much more than her hair and that there is no such thing as a happy ending.This is the first novel not aimed at children with alopecia representation, so I was interested to read it. Mel's religious parents insist she must keep the baby, whilst Sid's feminist mum pushes for a termination.

A bittersweet Northern Irish romance that takes a new look at teen pregnancy, the magic and mess of first relationships, and a young woman's right to choose her own future. Like the main character of Bryony Gordon’s novel, my hair was something that people always commented on. She gets out her mirrors and combs for a video and sees it … a bald patch the size of a ten pence coin, slap bang in the middle of her head. Barb’s own experience with alopecia is at first a curse and then a wonderful liberation, the catalyst to realising that she has spent much of her young life comparing her insides with everybody’s outsides.There is a lot to really enjoy in this story and there is great energy to the writing, as well as some fine characterization' - Peter James, award-winning and no. Bryony Gordon is a British journalist, award-winning mental health campaigner and the bestselling author of various books on mental health, including Mad Girl and Glorious Rock Bottom. Holly Bourne is a great advocate of young teens reading about difficult issues as a 'safe space' to consider and discuss those issues, this book does a great job in that sphere.