Finding Violet Park

''Finding Violet Park'', or ''Me, the Missing, and the Dead'' in the U.S., is a young adult novel by Jenny Valentine, published by HarperCollins in 2007. It is about a fatherless teenage boy, Lucas Swain, who finds an urn containing the ashes of the titular Violet Park abandoned in a minicab office and determines to lay her to rest. HarperCollins published the first US edition April 2008, entitled ''Me, the Missing, and the Dead''.

Valentine won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. The novel was also highly commended for the Branford Boase Award, and was longlisted for the 2008 Manchester Book Award.

Jenny Valentine is also the author of ''Broken Soup'', ''The Ant Colony'', and ''The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight''.

Synopsis

This book is about a 16-year-old Boy who found an urn in a cab office. It contained the ashes of an old lady. Despite only knowing her name and when she lived, he felt a connection to her, her name was Violet Park. He took her to his home and was dedicated to give her a better place to rest and finding out who she was. During the research he finds out she had a connection to his missing dad and finally confronts questions he never thought about asking.

Characters

* Lucas Swain: The protagonist, almost 16 and with a life full of problems, one day encounters Violet in a cab shop, sparking the search for his father.
* Violet Park: The dead lady, a famous pianist who somehow knew Lucas's father.
* Pete Swain: Lucas's missing father, went missing five years ago and has a mysterious connection with Violet.
* Martha Hooper: Lucas's girlfriend, they are madly in love and she is a big fan of Violet's work.
* Nicky Swain: Lucas's mother, an overprotective lady who still misses her husband even though she hides it. She's a classroom assistant. She likes walking, swimming in summer, reading, knitting, learning to sew, yoga, aggressive cleaning. She's buying things all the time. Mostly beauty products.
* Pansy Swain: Lucas's grandmother, who believes in spirits and agrees that Violet is somehow communicating with Lucas from beyond the grave.
* Norman Swain: Lucas's adoptive grandfather, the war veteran who had a stroke and dips in and out of lucidity. He is not Pete's biological father is he is infertile and Pansy was pregnant before she met him. However he raised Pete and loved him as one of his own. He had a strong bond with Jed.
* Bob Cutforth: The family friend and an old friend of Pete's. He helps the family get through the five years by steadily getting closer to Nicky. He planted a tree when Jed was born on Primrose Hill. He's now an unemployed alcoholic.
* Jed Swain: The brother, Lucas's little brother who Norman tells everything to.
* Mercy Swain: Lucas's sister, a tomboy who doesn't look good in masculine clothes with low self esteem. When Pete disappeared she slammed doors, got into fights and slept around. When Police find Pete's car she doesn't speak for a month.

Translations

* . Translated by Jenny de Jonge. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Moon. 2007. .
* . Translated by Klaus Fritz. Munich: Reihe Hanser. 2009. .
* . Translated by Hoshi Tominaga. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2009. .
* . Translated by Mercedes Núñez Salazar. Madrid: Ediciones Alfaguara. 2009. .
* . Translated by Diane Ménard. Paris: EDL. 2010. .
* . Translated by Agnete Øye. Oslo: Cappelen Damm. 2011. .

References

External links

{{worldcat , oclc=658075519 —immediately, first US edition

British young adult novels
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize–winning works
2007 British novels
HarperCollins books
2007 children's books