Flipped!
Philip Caveney
Fox and Ink Books

This story takes inspiration from both the COVID pandemic and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Set in 2020 during a COVID lockdown, its main protagonist is fifteen year old Flip. His mother is a nurse practitioner at the local hospital and after on-line lessons undertaken with no enthusiasm during the summer term on Flip’s part, the school holiday has begun. He can neither spend time with his friends, nor enjoy a week or two abroad with his mum. He’s not a keen reader and so with little else to occupy him, Flip has taken to walking out onto the nearby North Kent Marshes.

On one of those walks, he comes upon a derelict house and curious, he decides to investigate. He heads inside and to his surprise a strangely dressed girl, seemingly of a similar age to himself, speaks to him. She says this, “So here you are at last. It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for you for ages.” Flip learns that her name is Estella. Estella is bemused by the mask he has and Flip is concerned that she has no awareness of social distancing nor any of the other rules introduced to stop the spread of the pandemic, though she does mention that there’s no cholera where they are. Estella leads Flip to a room where he must work on listing and ordering a collection of books, a task set for him by a Miss H. However Flip causes some chaos, escapes and goes home. There he does an online search for the name Estella, a search that leads him to the book Great Expectations. Rejecting that the strange girl in the house is part of the story, Flip returns, only to discover that he too seems to be a character in the story.

Unintentionally, his actions start affecting Dickens’s narrative: Flip really needs to find a way to set things right and leave the book once and for all: either that or remain forever trapped within its pages.

In addition to coping with this problematic situation, Flip is at the same time coping with consequences of his parents’ break-up, so many readers will find plenty to relate to in his story. It matters not that most will be unfamiliar with Great Expectations as Philip Caveney’s explanations of the Dickens’ characters are so well done. So too is Flip’s character who is utterly believable and easy to empathise with. A mystery story, with witty touches; strongly recommended for upper KS2/KS3 readers