Close-up of book cover. Photo: 'Hester and Sophie' by John Lampen.
‘Hester and Sophie’ by John Lampen
Review by Alice Hardy
There is a scene about halfway through this book where one of the main characters, Hester, and her mum are talking about the Quaker view on God and spirituality.
I said, “Him?”
“Well, her if you like – or even it. I don’t think of God as a big Daddy in the sky. I picture God as a spirit of light.”
This was getting a bit deep for me.
“Well, thanks,” I said. “I’d better go and begin my reading.”
This scene sums up the book very well. It makes you think but it doesn’t prescribe, and it manages the hard task of balancing humour and more serious, deeper moments.
Hester and Sophie – by the Quaker author John Lampen – tells the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who discovers a letter that she thinks is from her best friend Sophie, who recently died. Told through the viewpoint of Hester, it gently explores bereavement and grief from the perspective of an adolescent and touches on themes such as spirituality and what happens after we die, asking how we can find hope and comfort when we have experienced such incomprehensible sadness.
As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this story and thought it captured a teenage girl’s life in a very realistic, truthful way. As a girl the same age as Sophie – thirteen – I thought the portrayal of teenhood and especially the school scenes were very well done: this is the work of someone who really remembers what it is like to be a child. One of my favourite scenes is near the end of the book, when Hester is on the moors and she has an awakening of sorts. It paints such a clear picture and really allows us to see exactly what it feels like to be Hester at that moment.
John Lampen never gives a conclusive answer to the characters’ searches but probes at the questions that underpin Hester’s loss as we see her slowly coming to terms with the death of her best friend. Ultimately the letter turns out not to be from Sophie after all, but through it perhaps Hester has found the comfort and resolution she was looking for.
All in all, I greatly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone in search of a good story, as it perfectly mixes dry observations on the part of Hester, and also captures what it feels like to be grieving the loss of a loved one.
I will end this review with the words of Hester herself: ‘Thank you for listening to me.’
