Indie's mum loves the colour blue. Blue is the colour of her favourite things - bluebirds, bluebells, the sky. So much so that she named her children Indigo and Misty - shades of blue, special colours, magical colours. Indie loves her mum. But blue isn't always a happy colour - and there's a lot of sad stuff in her mum's life. And now suddenly she wants them to run away from their lovely house and leave Max - mum's fella - behind. Indie doesn't know why. Or where they're going. Or how to tell her friends. In a dingy old flat with a grumpy neighbour, no heating and only biscuits to eat, Indie begins to realise that her mum's got a secret - a reason she really needed to get away. Indie mustn't let her go near Max again - or something terrible will happen. A powerful, moving and tender book about love, family, domestic violence - and what it feels like to get the blues.
Indigo Blue is narrated through the eyes of Indigo, an 11 year old girl, who moves into a terrible flat with her mother and half-sister, Misty, after her mother leaves her abusive step-father.
It's a middle-grade novel that deals with sensitive topics such as domestic abuse, poverty, homelessness and depression in a manner that is less intense for middle grade readers, but it isn't written in a condescending tone. Witnessing what this family has to go through is heart-wrenching.
Indigo Blue might deal with sensitive topics, but it's hopeful and inspiring.
