Staring Up at the Sun

Suzanne Bugler

Kate's always been a nice, sensible girl; she and her best friend, Juliet, have known each other since they were babies. But when she reaches adolesence, Kate finds herself pulling away from Juliet in search of a deeper friendship, a soulmate, someone to fill the emptiness inside her. Then Sara starts at her school. Sara doesn't care what poeple think of her and Kate is mesmerised. She spends every spare minute hanging out with Sara's cousin, and her brother Glenn, fascinated by the chaos and the squalor of their home, thrilled by the lack of parental care. But Sara is cruel, manipulative and callous, her friendship with Kate is strictly on her terms. She forces Kate into a sexual relationship with Glenn, only to become furious when Kate falls pregnant by him. Kate is desperate and miserable, she still hankers after Sara's approval, her forgiveness, her love. She'll do anything to make it right. But when Kate miscarries, alone, and in the school toilets, after Sara has visciously attacked her, she finally accepts the awful truth about her 'soulmate' Sara, and about her own neediness. But can Kate pick up the peices of her life and start again?