The Visconti House

Elsbeth Edgar (author)

Walker Books, Australia: 2009; 291pp

ISBN: 9781921529016

Genres: realistic fiction

Issues: differences, family, friendship, gifted

Laura's parents decided to make a change of lifestyle that would enable them to live freer, more creative lives. Laura was fine with the idea - until she realised that at her new school she would feel even more different - alien, even - than she did before.

Laura loves her parents and their lively, interesting, different friends. She loves their new house - a rather dilapidated century-old mansion. She loves to write and draw and imagine. It's just that she longs for someone her own age who understands that and doesn't consider those traits...weird. Leon Murphy is also new at the school and gossip abounds about him, his family and his past. Being friends with Leon would make Laura stand out even more but, like her, he is different: an outsider, intelligent - and interested in the history of the remarkable house that Laura now calls home. The Visconti house.

Although a strongly written narrative, this is a character driven novel. The narrative is moved forward by the interaction of the protagonists - their changing relationships, needs and choices as they learn about themselves and their place in the wider community. Edgar captures that terrible isolation felt by the sensitive youngsters who long for company but cannot find it within the average school environment. The relationship between Laura and Leon in the present echoes across time that of Mr Visconti and his fiancee. Laura and Leon are two isolated, gifted individuals who gradually find one another. Mr Visconti and his fiancée were two sensitive, lonely, gifted individuals who had found one another but were forced apart. Understanding the significance of that separation helps Laura and Leon understand what is important to them.

An interesting, satisfying novel, The Visconti House explores a very real aspect of peer pressure and playground politics but avoids the dramatization and angst that so often accompanies such stories. This is an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.