Love Lessons

Prue and Grace have grown up learning at home under their strict, controlling father, who has never let them forget that they are not like other girls. When they try to explore ordinary teenage life, such as buying their own clothes or reading magazines, his anger is swift. His sudden stroke, which leaves him unable to move or speak, changes everything. Their mother, struggling with a sick husband and their lessons, enrols the sisters at the local comprehensive, where Prue experiences school for the first time and finds fitting in harder than she expected. Her one confidant is Rax, her young and good-looking Art teacher, whose lessons bring them close. When he begins minding his children on Friday evenings, the short drive home afterwards becomes the highlight of Prue's week. As her feelings deepen, she starts to suspect that Rax may feel the same, though he seems unable to act on it. Jacqueline Wilson is a British author known for her many novels for young readers, and this one is written for teenagers, portraying a forbidden romance with honesty.