Jake's Tower

Elizabeth Laird — 2017

'It's good that I've found this secret place. I can come here and make plans. My main plan for the future is my dream house. It's very tall and thin. A tower really. There'll be a lift to whiz me up to the top. No one can get to me up there. It's totally safe.' In real life, Jake is never safe. He lives in constant fear of his mother's violent boyfriend. But in his imaginary tower he can dream up his own father - the stranger who gave him a cuddle and a fluffy duck the day he was born and went away for ever. Jake doesn't believe dreams ever come true. But sometimes they do - in strange and surprising ways.

Reviews

Lynn Braden@ftbooklover

Oct 8, 2021

Jake has lived with his mother and her abusive boyfriend for most of his life. As the abuse gets worse, Jake starts to imagine a special tower where he, his mother, and his real father would live. One night, when the abuse gets out of hand, Jake's mother packs their bags and takes them to a most unexpected place. Jake's Tower shows a family in crisis and the desperation that causes people to make difficult choices. The characters of Jake and his mother are fairly well developed as we feel the pain and anxiety they both go through in order to change the pattern of abuse in their lives. Other characters in the story are less well developed, leaving a bit of a whole in the story, but overall, Jake's Tower is a realistic rendition of living life in the midst of abuse.