Alexander Armstrong’s ‘This Winter’ by Alice Oseman and ‘Evenfall — A Golden Linnet’ are for teens as well as parents

Set in the Heartstopper universe, the LGBTQ+ young adult graphic novel, ‘This Winter’, covers the events of a particular Christmas with the Spring family. It’s a tastefully done emotional roller-coaster, a story of being a teenager, of being hurt, all rolled into one.

Christmas isn’t easy for the Spring family as they navigate one particularly bad day with Charlie. Battling with an eating disorder and self-harm, Charlie is back from the psych ward and sadly, the extended Spring family fails to help him out of it. As his parents struggle, Charlie finds support in the selfless love of his sister Tori and little brother Oliver.

Caught between a big feast and difficult conversations, one worries for Charlie. In about a hundred pages, Alice Oseman says a lot about the world of the young today and the demons that plague them. It opens on an honest note with Tori admitting how her Internet addiction is taking a toll on her sleep.

It’s a new world, and here the young show us how to navigate it. As Charlie so masterfully puts it, “When people know you’re mentally ill, most either want to ignore it completely or they treat you like you’re strange, scary or fascinating. Very few people are actually good at the middle ground. The middle ground isn’t hard. It’s just being there. Being helpful, if help is needed. Being understanding, even if they don’t understand everything.”

Oseman always manages to handle heavy topics with grace, capturing the intensity of teenage angst and pureness of love. Not only with the adorable Nick and Charlie, but through the bond between the siblings as well.

She depicts healing beautifully, not as linear but as a process, a combination of good and bad days. The depiction of parental conflict — knowing they care and yet failing more often than not — is sincere. Heartstopper has always inspired kids, not just queer but in general, affirming that love and care prevail, even if it sometimes feels like it never will.

‘This Winter’ shows how love is passionate and funny and quaint, but most importantly, love is kind. To any kid out there, who isn’t sure who they are, read ‘This Winter’ and maybe, just maybe, you’ll learn about your Tori, your mum and your Nick. It’s as much for parents and grandparents to understand their teen a little better!

‘Evenfall — A Golden Linnet’ by Alexander Armstrong is woven beautifully around ‘quest’. It is an enchantingly layered creation, exploring complex teenage emotions in the company of wonderful characters and strange settings. It’s a touching story about a lonely boy, Sam, trying to fend for himself and his ailing dad. Right before 13, his life takes a dark turn, and what he had always been waiting for begins to unfold one by one.

Armstrong’s debut novel for children has all that they look for. Mystique, secret society, superpowers and a lonely child on a journey, finding allies, distinguishing friends from foes, keeping you on the edge.

The fast-paced plot has plenty of twists, some pretty fascinating. Set in Durham, a city of Viking heritage, it’s an interesting backdrop to the rather complicated fantasy of secret societies, far too rich villains and, of course, mysterious walkers and elvers.

It’s a surprisingly heavy family dynamic for a kid’s novel, much a reminder of ‘Percy Jackson’ series. The track of the big lost city and its treasure is one trope that mars the originality to a certain extent. The language at times feels like a vocabulary extension exercise. It sure benefits certain characters — the gazillionaire antagonist’s dialogue hits harder in the snotty, rich tone of voice. But too solemn for a 13-year-old.

Overall, it’s a good start, especially for a beginner novel. It ticks all the right boxes. Multi-racial — we have Ishan Bhat and his family at the centre, along with others. One of the walkers, Nathaniel, gives a nod to feminism rather early on. One hopes the future editions of ‘Evenfall’ would bring justice to its complexity and not dumb it down to cater to a supposedly young audience.