Reviews for Infinite sky
Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
When a family of Travelers sets up camp in Iris's family's paddock, Iris's dad and brother agree: the "Gypos" have to go. Iris, however, is fascinated by the family, especially the teenage boy, Trick, with whom she becomes fast friends. The characters are all sympathetically portrayed in this story that skillfully balances moments of introspection and action, loyalty and betrayal, happiness and heartbreak. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
*Starred Review* Flood's debut novel is a slow burn. Its beauty, like that of the book's rural England setting, grows on you, building with every scene. What at first reads like a sunny summer day becomes as profound and tragically brutal as nature itself. Thirteen-year-old Iris has a lot to deal with as summer commences. Her mother has left home, which throws the remaining family Iris' dad and older brother, Sam into a state of withdrawn, bitter depression. When a family of Travelers traditionally itinerant, ethnically Irish people sets up camp in the paddock adjacent to their house, all three seem to welcome the distraction: Iris befriends the family's teenage son, Trick; her dad schemes to evict them; and for Sam, they become the object of his incoherent, pain-fueled destruction. In an impressively realized, matter-of-fact first-person narration, Iris describes getting to know Trick and gradually trusting him for better or worse along with the growing complexity of her emotions. Whether portraying the near silence of the countryside, a stifling conversation with a classmate's nosy mother, or an argument that explodes into violence, Flood's understated, gently embellished prose cuts to the bone.--Willey, Paula Copyright 2014 Booklist
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Gr 7 Up-It's the start of summer and 14-year-old Patrick (aka Trick) arrives with his family in their caravan and illegally camps on the edge of the paddock near Iris's house. The boy and his family are Irish Travelers, and while 13-year-old Iris is intrigued by the visitors, her dad wants them off his land. Her free-spirited, but unhappy mother, left three months earlier to travel around Tunisia in order to find herself, leaving behind a family reeling in her absence. Iris's dad is drinking more and becoming increasingly introverted while Sam, her older brother, has shaved his head and is running with a rough crowd-no longer is he the charming, artistic sibling she has always admired. The narrator has distanced herself from her best friend, Matty, and has taken to wearing clothing her mother left behind, in part because she misses her mother and also because there is no one to do the laundry. While tensions escalate between the two families, Trick and Iris develop a secret friendship which soon blossoms into first love. Tragedy strikes-readers have been forewarned as the opening prologue features the narrator contemplating a coffin-and Iris is forced to confront the confusing intersection of love, loyalty, and culpability. Told in the first person, this is a moving story of a young English girl's coming-of-age. The author hints at larger issues, such as alcoholism and prejudice directed toward the Travelers, but as the story is told through the protagonist's eyes, they are not at the forefront.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
