Saffy’s Angel
Realistic Fiction
By Hilary McKay
Reviewed by Esther Parmelee
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
“I don’t see Saffron…”. Saffron sat a top a stool in her kitchen, scanning the color wheel on the refrigerator, a familiar sight in the Casson household, since eve, the mother, is an artist, to Saffron’s dismay her name is not in fact on the color wheel. How can this be true? Eve always names her children after colors; Cadmium, Indigo, Rose and…Saffron. Saffron learns the startling truth that she is adopted, and her world crashes down around her. Her world crashes even more, when her granddad passes away, leaving a will. He leaves money, a car, a house, and Saffy’s angel? Saffron, with the help and persuasion of a new friend, travels to Siena Italy, her birthplace, to find her ‘angel’. Finding her angel wasn’t the challenge; the challenge was finding her self, and who her family really was.
In this book Saffron must fight the nagging depression and feelings where she feels she has no family. This book is for readers who have a deeper understanding of books, not just the obvious problem. Saffy’s Angel is a creative and captivating tale of finding who a person really is, and who her real family is. Hilary McKay creates the characters so each one has a personality so un-predictable, relatable and real, it’s hard to put the book down. The plot of this is not complex, but it does shoot out in every direction, but Hilary McKay has a writing style that brings all the shots back together and keeps the plot going without slowing it down or it becoming boring to read. Hilary McKay’s style of writing makes the story visual, with her delicate way of weaving in necessary details, without over stimulating the book. Saffy’s Angel is an eccentric and captivating read. I highly recommend this book for young teen girls. This excellent book with a twist of not fitting in, that many girls can relate too.
