Definitely at the top of our age range, this beautifully written novel about a young girl who loses her brother in a terrible accident is both moving and genuine. Freya is 14 when the story begins, a story she tells herself. The year before, her 16 year old brother Joe had died in a boating accident near the idyllic island where they had always spent summer holidays with their grandparents. Freya has come back to the island in an attempt to remember all that happened and to decide if the accident really was an accident and if somehow she has been at fault. Her parents have not been able to come to terms with Joe's death and are moving house to rid themselves of memories there. In flashbacks, Freya remembers the events of the previous summer - Joe's growing away from their close relationship as he grows up, his falling in love with another girl visitor to the island who becomes involved with an older man and betrays Joe. Freya's growing sexual awareness comes into the story too, and she begins to understand Joe's hurt. Did he go out in the dinghy in such a state of anger and suffering that he didn't take the usual safety precautions, or was it her fault because she had known he had gone out in the boat and didn't tell anyone, thinking he would be fine? The story is complex because we are hearing it in Freya's mind and all her feelings and reactions are there too. The descriptions of the island and the other visitors, the games the young people play together, the relationship between Freya's grandparents and her - all are done with such sensitivity and reality that we are there with her, suffering too. There is hope in the end because Freya's parents arrive, and the fact that it has now been a year since Joe's death means that their relationship has begun to heal too. A ceremony, with candles floating out to sea, helps everyone to accept. I cannot do justice to this book in a short review, but it is a page-turner as well as beautifully written. A mature 11 year old will handle it even though it is more for older teenagers. A sequel to this book has come out in 2012, 'Bringing the Summer'. I have not seen it, but given the first one, it too should be excellent.