Mmmmmmmm, an interesting but at times uncomfortable story of a girl kidnapped from a Florida Theme Park 15 years ago... The song is about the bitterness of a man who has worked long and hard, with no apparent reward - something that seems to be felt by most workers these days. My niggles had to be remarked on. There were a few subplots linked to a cult-like church which I skimmed over. And the story gave me a sense of deja vu. I have read similar stories before. With well-judged interweaving narratives and plenty of rich description, this is an absorbing and promising debut' Spectator

A Girl Named Anna is about two girls living very different lives. Anna lives in a small city in Florida with her Mamma who is very religious and makes Anna live by many rules. Rosie lives in the UK and is haunted by the disappearance of her sister fifteen years prior. I really liked how both stories are brought together in the book and it was very interesting reading from both viewpoints. I guess this would be considered young adult since the viewpoints are both teenagers, but it read a bit more like adult to me.

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The story is told in 2 halves, one chapter from ‘Anna’s’ narrative the other from the Sister, Rosie’s. Money (That's What I Want) was written by the founder of the music label “Tamla”, Berry Gordy. It was a hit single in 1959 by Barrett Strong and became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown Enterprise in June 1960, making it to number 2 one the US R&B chart and number 23 on the US pop chart.

The first thing I noticed in this book, that makes it different than all the stories about the kidnapping is – that the plot is being revealed in the first chapters. I was not expecting to immediately know that Anna and Rosie are sisters and Anna was kidnapped as a girl, but this was stated in the first chapters in the book. I personally thought that this would be the big twist, but the twist came to be so much better than that. As part of Anna's objectives, what has she been asked to develop? The answer is at the bottom of the transcript below. TranscriptOn her eighteenth birthday Anna lies to the strictly religious and hygiene obsessed mother with whom she has led a sheltered life in North Florida. Plagued by a recurring dream in which she is called by a different name, Anna travels to the nearby Astroland theme park and triggers a blurry recollection that fills her with a eerie certainty that she has been there before. But with Anna’s pious mother, Mary, openly hostile when her daughter asks her about her early years, her investigative efforts are limited by the necessity not to arouse suspicion in a household where life is dictated by religion and routine.

A gripping one-sitting read... this is a deft and assured debut novel from Lizzy Barber' Shots Magazine

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ROSIE has grown up in the shadow of the missing sister she barely remembers, her family fractured by years of searching without leads. Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of her sister's disappearance, the media circus resumes in full flow, and Rosie vows to uncover the truth. These are tasks for you to do, to try and improve your performance and skills and help the business. Here are the questions you’re likely to hear in an appraisal: On a sidenote, I did enjoy the Carrie references included with Anna and noticed the parallels included here almost instantly.