I was browsing around on Amazon (fatal: don't ever do it) and was intrigued by this rather startling cover of a girl standing back-to-back with a Chimpanzee. Apparently the eponymous Eva has been in a coma for eight months following an accident. When she wakes up she finds she has changed, and, in the words of the back cover blurb..."From now on she must live a life that no-one has ever lived before. A life that will change the world". Oooerr. Mummy.

When I bought 'Eva' I didn't realise it was a children's book. This is a good thing; had I known, I would never have read it, and reading it was a powerful experience.

Dickinson deftly and simply tells us a clever story which contains many layers of meaning. With Eva, we consider the nature of identity and examine our relationships with the people we love. Finally, we are invited to think hard about the extent to which we engage with reality and ask ourselves how our perceptions are distorted by vanity and other defences.

I wholeheartedly recommend this.