Skin deep by Hayley Lawrence

The ironically named Scarlett, used to be beautiful, but is now covered in disfiguring burn scars after surviving a horrific accident. Being a teenager with such obvious features is not easy in a society that is appearance-obsessed, but Scarlett herself is far from ready to be anything except pretty. Her family has already known pain and loss, but Scarlett was too young to remember much of this. The journey to recovery and acceptance after her accident is beyond hard, it is crippling and painful and debilitating, and a constant nightmare. No one can understand the torture of the grief of the loss of her former existence and were it not for her father’s insistence of a step-by-step response to her new life, she would have completely given up. The decision to finally escape her everyday school torture and her scarred life and take a reprieve on top of a mountain in a ramshackle cabin leads her to Eamon and his autistic sister, Cat. Here she finds friendship with no expectations and lots of acceptance, and with an alternative community as neighbours, Scarlett discovers that she is more than what you see at first glance and that her story and the scars that prove it make her strong in ways that she could not have predicted. Choosing courage every day is always going to be hard.

This is beautifully written, with the back story of the accident and the internal thoughts and feelings related to recovery from a traumatic burn injury interspersed throughout the present-day self-discovery. This is not an easy journey and feeling Scarlett’s pain is quite palpable.  Hayley Lawrence creates an insight into teenage life for a burns survivor which is personal and insightful and will grow empathy for readers. As the mother of five daughters, Lawrence has also created a story that is a gentle critique of the appearance-obsessed and shallow world that teens occupy, that is valuable reading for girls. This is a book to be recommended to readers aged 13+ who can maturely cope with the horrific nature of Scarlett’s injury and her subsequent struggles.

Themes: Beauty, Accidents, Burn injuries, Family, Resilience, Autism.

Carolyn Hull