Martyn Bedford - Writer

The American edition of Twenty Questions for Gloria isn’t published until April so it’s both surprising and delightful to receive a rave review of it this week – especially as the piece was written by a young reader and critic from the wonderfully named town of Moscow, Idaho.

I’m grateful to BookPeople, in Moscow, for forwarding me the review by a girl in the local high school, a resident critic on BookPeople’s Teen Advisory Panel, which receives advance reader copies of upcoming YA fiction. Here’s her review in full:

“When young Gloria meets mysterious new boy, Uman, they soon become taken with one another and embark on a fantastic adventure that changes their lives. And while it thrills Gloria to do something so spontaneous, she soon finds that she may be in over her head. This book is wonderful in so many ways. Though it is unlikely that anything that happens in Twenty Questions For Gloria would occur in real life, it perfectly conveys the emotions the typical teenager might experience: feelings of betrayal, intense trust and helplessness.

Bedford’s writing is moving and witty and the way the story is told (present Gloria re-telling the experience in the past tense) creates drama and mystery, leaving you on the edge of your seat. I hope that every Y.A. reader takes the time to be sucked into the brilliance that is Twenty Questions For Gloria.”

Emma, 9th grade, Moscow High School