REVIEW: Life on the Refrigerator Door (From Essex County Standard)

REVIEW: Life on the Refrigerator Door

5:11pm Monday 22nd December 2008 in Leisure By Claire Owen

by Alice Kuipers, RRP £5.99. Alice Kuipers’ debut is a novel in notes.

Teenager Claire and her single mother Elizabeth live in a whirlwind, where one is rushing out the door as the other is rushing in.

As a result of their hectic lifestyles, their relationship centres around hastily-scribbled notes left to each other on the fridge.

While these start with mundane jottings about shopping lists and lost keys, they take an altogether more serious turn when Elizabeth discovers she has breast cancer.

As the notes get more involved, real emotion is displayed in just a few words, with all manner of feelings bubbling between the lines.

Readers are likely to be genuinely touched by this book – and the message it offers about what's truly important in life.