This review is written with thanks to Harper Collins for my copy of Bad Fruit.

Blurb:

LILY IS A GOOD DAUGHTER

Every evening she pours Mama a glass of perfectly spoilt orange juice. She arranges the teddy bears on Mama’s quilt, she puts on her matching pink clothes. Anything to help put out the fire of Mama’s rage.

MAMA IS A GOOD LIAR

But Mama is becoming unpredictable, dangerous. And as she starts to unravel, so do the memories that Lily has kept locked away for so long.
She only wanted to be good, to help piece Mama back together. But as home truths creep out of the shadows, Lily must recast everything: what if her house isn’t a home – but a prison? What if Mama isn’t a protector – but a monster …

Review:

Bad Fruit will be a very difficult book to review. The subject matter (which I’ll come to in a moment) is such that I can’t really say I enjoyed it, but Ella King is a phenomenal writer. Her descriptions are totally on point and some of the phrases she uses are so poetic I had to stop and read them more than once. It’s astonishing that this is her debut and if this is a sign of her work to come, I’m very excited! 

The characters in Bad Fruit are all fundamentally flawed and at various times throughout the novel, we see their dark sides emerge. This means no one is particularly likeable, but I wanted to discover the reasons behind their behaviour and find out what made them tick. 
In Bad Fruit, the author writes about themes such as abuse, violence and mental health issues. It’s not easy to read and for the majority of the time I spent reading, I felt very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. However, it is testament to her talent that I felt compelled to continue reading and discover the answers to the many questions raised in the story.

Bad Fruit is available from Amazon.