Annabel Pitcher

Winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2013, KETCHUP CLOUDS tells the story of one teenage girl with a very big secret. Fifteen-year-old Zoe has a secret - a dark and terrible secret that she can't confess to anyone she knows. But then one day she hears of a criminal, Stuart Harris, locked up on death row in Texas. Like Zoe, Stuart is no stranger to secrets. Or lies. Or murder. Full of both heartache and humour, Zoe tells her story in the only way she can - in letters to the man in prison in America. Armed with a pen, Zoe takes a deep breath, eats a jam sandwich, and begins her tale of love and betrayal.

Ketchup Clouds

Dear Mr. S. Harris, Ignore the blob of red in the top left corner. It's jam, not blood, though I don't think I need to tell you the difference. It wasn't your wife's jam the police found on your shoe. . . . I know what it's like. Mine wasn't a woman. Mine was a boy. And I killed him exactly three months ago. Zoe has an unconventional pen pal--Mr. Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate and convicted murderer. But then again, Zoe has an unconventional story to tell. A story about how she fell for two boys, betrayed one of them, and killed the other. Hidden away in her backyard shed in the middle of the night with a jam sandwich in one hand and a pen in the other, Zoe gives a voice to her heart and her fears after months of silence. Mr. Harris may never respond to Zoe's letters, but at least somebody will know her story--somebody who knows what it's like to kill a person you love. Only through her unusual confession can Zoe hope to atone for her mistakes that have torn lives apart, and work to put her own life back together again. Rising literary star Annabel Pitcher pens a captivating second novel, rich with her distinctive balance between humor and heart. Annabel explores the themes of first love, guilt, and grief, introducing a character with a witty voice and true emotional resonance.

Ivy X

It felt more like a teenage girl's woes of what she could have done in the past. Rather than sending a letter to Stuart (the inmate she's penpals with), it felt more like a diary of kissing boys and confused feelings. I'm not sure if Stuart is interested in a teenage girl's story as she talks about the story of her back and forth interactions between the brothers when he's going to die because of his murder he committed on his cheating wife. I did like the family aspect of the story and the dynamics. However, there were so many issues presented in this book and it was hard to fully understand a single issue. Toward the end, I was very confused with the random placement of Aaron's letter. I expected her to receive a letter from Stuart or something but that didn't come true.

Rebekah Cresap

This book draws you in. Very different from what I was expecting (a typical teenage romance.) The book proved to be witty, charming, sad, depressing, emotional, joyful, and I just loved it. Tomorrow is May 1st. I don't know how to deal.

Elena Enns

When I grabbed Ketchup Clouds to read, I was very interested in the concept of the novel. A girl is writing to a Death Row inmate to confess her own sins, because she needs to get them off her chest but isn’t ready to reap the consequences. This story is told from the main character, Zoe’s, perspective through a series of letters that she has written. One of the things I found interesting is that we never see how it ends, we’re left guessing about what is happening after the letters end, and if they even get to whom they’re intended for in the first place.
While I have ready many epistolary novels, lots of them for literature classes, I found this one especially interesting because even though it is written in the format of letters, we never get responses to the letters - making them seem more like diary entries than words meant for another person. Additionally, I am never sure whether or not I am to trust this narrator, because she can leave what she wants out of the letters and change things, while we are just expected to believe everything she says.
I’d say this novel is perfect for those of us interested in true crime, but don’t want to read something non-fiction and instead want to see how those aspects play out in an imaginary setting.

yerin

I liked the concept and the plot twist, but some characters were a bit unlikeable.

Barbora Rak

This books writing style was little bit different, the story was written in letters, I liked it a lot, tho I expected it to end differently.

Ketchup Clouds

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