A fifteen year old girl who has been suffering with leukaemia for five years is heading down a hospital corridor with her parents to learn from her doctor whether she is to live or die. While walking, she thinks of the last five years, of her difficulties with her wonderful mother who keeps trying to tell her she is strong and will survive, which she doesn’t want to hear. It is only when she asks her mother if she will be disappointed if she doesn’t get better that mum realises her mistake. Her dad’s lame jokes embarrass her until she understands he is trying to hide his real feelings. She remembers her great friendship with Maxine, also a leukaemia sufferer, with whom she has shared so much and who has died. She wears a locket with Maxine’s picture and will never forget their friendship. But most of all she remembers Victor, her boyfriend of two years, who has never treated her like she is sick, and with whom she is in love. She thinks of all the things she will miss if she dies, her family, biscuits, TV shows, history class, the smell of autumn and Victor: ‘kissing Victor, Victor’s eyes, Victor’s voice, Victor’s smell, Victor’s hands’. When they see the doctor, the news is the best possible, and as they leave hospital, Victor is there, and she is able to tell him she is cured. The illustrations are remarkable. More like a graphic novel than a picture book, very sophisticated and at times bleak. The colouration is important. Throughout the book, the girl is represented in a soft green colour, even her hair. Green seems to be the colour of sadness and concern, and the other people are almost always in soft browns, reds and greys except for her parents and others who are suffering with her. Victor, however, is always in a red jumper, which reflects his positive attitude. At the end when the girl flies into Victor’s arms, she sheds her greens and becomes red too even her hair! The romantic edge to the story will appeal to girls particularly, and the entire book is redolent of feelings of all sorts. It should be on all young people’s cancer wards. A remarkable tour de force.