In Review

09 January 2009 12:14 BST

Pandora's Box by Giselle Green

Published by Avon, May 5th 2008, paperback, 435pp, £6.99.

In a nutshell...

Mother-and-daughter relationship tearjerker.

What's it all about?

Narrated alternately by mother and daughter, Pandora's Box tells the story of a family on the brink of tragedy. Nearly-fifteen-year-old Shelley has been fighting a debilitating and fatal illness for most of her life, and when her best friend Miriam dies of the same disease, she makes a decision to end her life with dignity while she still can.

Shelley's mother Rachel, exhausted by the constant care she must give her daughter, longs for a life where she can pursue her long-since abandoned dreams – reawakened by a box of old possessions dumped on her by her mother (conveniently named Pandora). But she is unwilling to accept that the price of her own happiness can only be bought with her daughter's death.

When Shelley suggests a holiday in Cornwall, Rachel is determined to make her wish come true no matter what the consequences – unaware that Shelley intends to make the few days her last.

Who's it by?

Pandora's Box is written by first-time novelist Giselle Green. Born in the UK, she moved to Gibraltar at the age of seven with her family. At 19, she married and moved back to Britain to study biology at King's college London. Although an avid fiction writer from an early age, Giselle's first published book was on astrology in 2005.

But it gave her a taste for being an author, and she wrote Pandora's Box in nine months. Two-and-a-half months after finishing, her book was picked up by Harper Collins for its Avon division – and Giselle had a three-book contract with the publisher.

As an example...

"I have heard of the story of what was Pandora's Box, Mum, and you've left one of them out."
"And what might that be?" I arch my brows.
"Hope," she says simply. "You've left out Hope."

Likelihood of it becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

The story, in its structure and content, is very much like US author Jodi Picoult's novels, and Picoult bestseller My Sister's Keeper is in the process of being turned into a film, so the potential is there. It will have to shift a few copies before it is in Picoult territory, however.

What the others say

Reader reviews on Amazon have given this book a firm thumbs up. "Potentially this could be utterly heart-rending or even mawkish as the main character of the story, Shelley, is a 15-year old with a terminal illness," said C Jones, from Oxfordshire, on the website. "And yet it is uplifting, funny and clever."

Janet Gover from Middlesex agreed, adding: "It is a story about relationships and different kinds of love - touching and thought provoking, and ultimately uplifting. A really enjoyable book - but do keep a box of tissues handy."

So is it any good?

By writing the story from the point of view of the two main characters of mother and daughter, the relationship between the two becomes the heart of the book and creates some poignant moments. And as the story opens with the fact that lively teenager Shelley is going to die, the dramatic tension is maintained throughout, culminating in a truly heart-pounding finale.

On the back cover, the blurb tells us fans of Jodi Picoult will enjoy this book. Although they may, it never quite reaches the heights of Picoult's morally-unsettling scenarios – the answers, when they come, seem easier then they should be.

In fact, the plot twists – and many of the other characters – often feel contrived. There is enough here to grip the reader, and the central relationship keeps the book going, but fans of Picoult may feel there is something lacking.

7/10

Sarah Routledge

"I've literally just finished reading Pandora's Box, so was interested to read your review.

I thought Giselle Green's writing had a real lightness of touch and yet there's such depth in the story. I was concerned it might be a bit dreary, given the subject matter, but it wasn't - it was entertaining, amusing, touching and thought-provoking.

At no point did it flag or did I want to skim-read to move on. And by the end, I felt I really knew Rachel and Shelley, because I'd followed their emotional journey in parallel. I fully empathised with each of them and loved the fact that Shelley handled her plight with spirit and didn't lose her sense of humour. In a lesser writer's hand she might well have come across as overly sentimental or self-pitying, resulting in a maudlin misery-fest. Instead, she's a teenager with attitude, insight and a sense of humour.

As for the comments about Picoult, all I can say is, "Who cares whether or not it compares favourably with Picoult's work?" I've never read her so I really couldn't care less. I realise it's a common bandwagon for journalists to jump on, that of comparing one creative talent with another, but I'd much rather we were given an open, honest critique of the work in its own right. [Although I accept that Picoult fans may want to see the comparison examined, since the publishing house had already set it up on the blurb, and we all understand the marketing impetus behind that.]

In a nutshell, when I closed the book I thought, 'fantastic' and made a mental note to recommend it to friends. Plus, I'll be looking out for Giselle's Green?s next book." - Jan Sprenger