Finding Audrey

I came across this book by Sophie Kinsella one day at the library I work in. I was intrigued by the cover. A girl in big sunglasses, with the title Finding Audrey?
I wondered if it was about a teen girl obsessed with Audrey Hepburn as a role model? I checked it out. It was a quick read, only took a day. But it was very enjoyable. Audrey is a girl in Britain who suffered a severe bullying incident at her school. Details of the incident are never given, but it has caused her crippling anxiety and depression. She is unable to be around people, except for her crazy family, and she wears sunglasses all the time even indoors. Her family is loving, supportive, quirky and very real. A friend of her older brother named Linus becomes more than a friend to Audrey and helps her to break out of her anxiety disorder and take off her sunglasses.

I found this book to be very refreshing. It isn't sappy or traumatic. The romance between Audrey and Linus is sweet and appropriate. Family life is depicted as hectic, funny, and there is a great deal of conflict, but underneath it all the reader gets the picture that this is a stable and supportive family. There are many examples of Audrey's brothers and parents being there for her when she needs them, and she is there for them too. This healthy-although-crazy family dynamic is what is keeping Audrey afloat and enables her to heal from her trauma without becoming a victim to it. I thought it was especially refreshing to read a book where the parents are parents. Audrey's mom goes a little crazy from time to time but it turns out that she is sacrificing herself for the well-being of her family and is willing to do what she sees as necessary to help her children become great human beings. Such selflessness is rare today in anyone, but tragically even in moms. Of course the fact that this mom goes to great extremes is part of what makes Finding Audrey so funny and enjoyable! I highly recommend this book.