Once inside the house I race up to Ginna's room. But the bed is unmade and empty. None of my prayers have been answered. He isn't home and he isn't safe. I don't know what to do. For a time I sit on the edge of his bed and cry. Then, cold and weary, I curl up in my own bed and force myself to stay awake. The night is full of sounds; the far-off city roars like some dangerous wild creature, and nearer at hand there are voices, cars and cats wailing. I wait longingly for the bang of the back door and Ginna's footsteps on the stairs, staring blindly into the darkness.

Determined teenager Fawn despairs of her crumbling school, her rebellious twin brother Ginna and her father who suffers from agoraphobia. When her first love Adam moves house and they drift apart, Fawn must rely on herself to make the right choices for her future and to protect her loved ones.

Ginna cannot seem to stop himself drifting deeper and deeper into trouble, and as if she didn't have enough to worry about, Fawn also has to fend of the advances of "posh" Simon, an ardent suitor who sends her love poetry and sees her as a trophy.

As if in answer to her problems, a new and inspirational music teacher arrives at her school and helps the twins to transform their lives. The beautiful Mr Thompson comes like a breath of fresh air, starting a band in which Fawn can sing and find expression. But as Fawn comes to realise, he cannot return her love.

The Starling Tree is an intelligent, well-written book which captures the agony of unrequited teenage love and the weight of exams, family worries and broken hearts. --Rachel Ediss