"This is a story of something like survival..." Sal planned it for almost a year before they ran. She nicked an Ordnance Survey map from the school library. She bought a compass, a Bear Grylls knife, waterproofs and a first aid kit from Amazon using stolen credit cards. She read the SAS Survival Handbook and watched loads of YouTube videos. And now Sal knows a lot of stuff. Like how to build a shelter and start a fire. How to estimate distances, snare rabbits and shoot an airgun. And how to protect her sister, Peppa. Because Peppa is ten, which is how old Sal was when Robert started on her. 

Disclaimer: I actually finished reading Sal last week but I've been thinking about how best to describe it. It's sharp, beautiful, harrowing, uplifting and exciting. Mick Kitson paints a story of survival that balances on the bridge between childhood and adulthood.  On the brink of being a teen, Sal and her younger sister Peppa are in the deepest woods of Scotland. Using all her SAS know-how and cut throat intuition, Sal has taken unspeakable steps to keep both her younger sister and herself safe.

Although this story is predominately a woodland adventure story, there are some really tough topics at the centre of the witty narrative that explain why the sisters have had to go to these extremes. It's an incredibly touching debut novel. Peppa's childhood innocence and absurdly crude language clashes with Sal's own older and sadly inappropriate understanding of the world. There is a cathartic healing absorbed from the woodland and it's with time and patience that the girls come to understand that their lives can move on.  You instinctively feel protective of them and you have to hope for the best. Mick Kitson's writing is laced with enough tension that you're never entirely sure how it's all going to come to an end.

This is a book written with teens in mind but honestly I think it will appeal to a much broader audience. It has shades of Lord of the Flies mixed in with Sisterland and its unashamedly British in both setting (rural Scotland at its wildest) and in its slang terms. Put this one on your reading list!