Another brilliant book by one of the nest YA writers around. I found this one almost unbearably tense in places and I was pulled into Roses story straight away.

Patrice Lawrence is a safe pair of hands for YA Literature and with ‘Rose, Interrupted' she ha shown again why she is such a fantastic author. This latest novel follows 17 year old Rose who, along with her mum and younger brother Rudder, have recently escaped from The Pilgrims - the cult in which they were raised.

The novel explores how Rose disengages herself from her former life, throwing herself into the pleasures and pitfalls of teenage life. The family’s history with the cult allows for some interesting and poignant characterisation and creates a less cliched justification for some of the awkward and dangerous situations Rose finds herself in. I also loved Rudder as a counterpoint to Rose as he provides nuance to the reader’s understanding of the complicated feelings that can arise from being part of a cult.

This is a mature story which is well-crafted and sensitively told. Compelling and witty - and with some great depictions of London - this is a novel I will be passing on to my students.

I was absolutely absorbed by this book and completely drawn into Rose's story. I think to some degree, everyone is fascinated by cults and what happens to people when they come into the wider world and what their life is like inside that community.

It was an interesting way to highlight their lack of experience and innocence around internet safety and the dangerous trend of exploiting girls with supposedly consensual photographs. I appreciated that the boyfriend wasn't a completely "evil" villain though - he had reasons and motivations and pressures too.

I was also pleased to see the BAME community represented in this book but in a subtle way. It isn't mentioned until almost the end that Rose is mixed race - in the same way that it often wouldn't be mentioned that a character is white - which does make the reader think about that omission and the way BAME characters are often described in YA with repeated references to their skin tone.

Rose Interrupted follows siblings Rose and Rudder, who have recently left a religious sect and are trying to adapt to the modern world. No more strict rules about what to wear, what to do and what relationships they can have. Rose welcomes the freedom and wants to distance herself as much from her past as possible- by countering every rule she has always been made to follow. Rudder on the other hand, wants to go back. He knew who he was, and what he was in the sect and struggles to cope with the outside world. The decisions of both characters lead to a devastating event that could lead to big trouble.

This was my first Patrice Lawrence book and I am kicking myself for not having read any others sooner! While the plot and setting of the book felt quite strange to me at first (their previous life seemed so far from anything I’d expect in the UK) it was believably written and utterly compelling. Patrice draws you in from the get go and doesn’t let go- all I wanted to do was read this book. She also writes about the topics and issues with complexity and care and the characters really come alive and off the page. Even when you don’t agree with the characters, you sympathise with them and can see why they make the choices/ decisions they do.

Patrice covers feminism, forms of control, family dynamics, belief, extreme violence, sexting and more. This a book the teens in your life need to read!

I was a HUGE fan of 'Indigo Donut' but sadly this one failed to grip me. The premise sounded very intriguing and I liked the range of themes that Lawrence explored. I think the issue was that I failed to connect with the character of 'Rose', and I wasn't really convinced by how she behaved a lot of the time. I also felt that their parents' motivation should have been explored more The highlight of the book was Rudder - I was fully drawn into his story and felt his struggles were authentically voiced and portrayed and I would have enjoyed the book more if he had been the main character!

What do you do when the life you’ve led shelters you from outside influences? For many within the Pilgrim community it’s not a question they’ve ever had to consider, but for Rose and her younger brother every day is a minefield.
Excised from their strict religious community, both children struggle to fit in. Innocent with regard to so much, the children have so many questions about life on the outside. How can they ever hope to adjust to life on the outside when they have so little awareness?
When Rudder inadvertently sets in place a chain of events with very serious consequences, he’s desperate for help.
This book was fascinating. While raising awareness of issues surrounding sexting and the use of the internet, it also explored attitudes to organised religion.
A huge thank you to NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication.

Coming of age tale set in a gritty, real life environment with sexting, bullying, fanaticism and family ties as strong themes. Rose is finding it hard to acclimatise to living in the 'real world' after having grown up in a strict religious sect. Her younger brother Rudder who shows signs of being on the autism spectrum is struggling even more, with his love and loyalty to his father, still in the religious community, fogging his thoughts and making it hard for him to settle. A salutary story about the inadvisability of being influenced too much by the people we love.

The usual, day-to-day challenges for teenagers are given a fresh and interesting perspective from these two young people who have recently left a repressive religious cult. A pleasing contrast is brought by the siblings response to their new life, which is and unpleasant one in poverty. That Rose has problems with adjusting to how to react in a romantic relationship isn't surprising and provides a dark aspect to the narrative. A great read for young adults.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

A year and a half after leaving their family's cult, Rose and Rudder are still struggling; Rose desperate to experience more of the world, Rudder desperate to return to the only world that ever made sense to him. Between them, they have to try and understand this strange new world and how to live in it.


Cult stories are always sort of sickly fascinating. It's amazing to read, but a little uncomfortable. Luckily, in this book, our main characters are out and mostly realise how restrictive and wrong things were in the Pilgrims. Rudder has some trouble still; he reads as maybe autistic or on the spectrum to me, but it might just be that his upbreaking has left him younger than his actual age.

The mystery at the heart of this story wasn't as compelling, to me, as the family dynamics, but it is still interesting to see the different ways Rose and Rudder tackle it and how their disparate experiences come together to mean they can work it out. This is a very enjoyable read and I'll be watching out for more by Patrice.


Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way,

Witty, engaging, relevant and more than a little chilling at times. Another tour de force from Patrice Lawrence.

I was very intrigued by this plot as I was curious to know how someone who had led a very restricted, religious lifestyle would cope in a world where so much is either online or based on online culture. While overall I enjoyed the book, I found Rose's mix of embracing her new life and yet still being very innocent quite incongruous in places. She's very into Fairy Kei and online shopping, yet struggles to decide the "right" way to behave in a relationship. The internet forums Rose consults seem to give her quite neutral choices to make, generally advising that you can do this, or not do this, it's up to you- yet she always seems to err on the side of being taken for granted in order to fit in. It just seemed slightly odd to me that someone who is savvy enough to research and adopt an unusual sub-cultural way of dressing would remain so naive and keen to conform. This is my only criticism!
Rudder's desperation to fit in and to know what to do and how to behave was absolutely heart wrenching. His increased desire to return "home" and continue with the life he knew, despite having being punished severely for his taboo love of Harry Potter was a real contrast to Rose and her mother's relief at escape, despite their life still being extremely challenging. I found Rudder's character to be much more "real" and would love to know how he manages further down the line.
The seedy, dirty, sexual exploitation side of the story was quite hard-hitting and explicit and is generally a real cautionary tale about consent, social media, relationships and social expectations.