Troublemakers

When she was three, Alena's activist mother died. She's been raised by her half-brother and his boyfriend in East London, which is being targeted by a lone bomber. Alena desperately wants to know about her mother, but her brother won't tell her anything. Alena's played by the rules all her life, but that's over. When she starts digging up information herself and does something that costs her brother his job and puts the family in jeopardy, Alena discovers she can be a troublemaker--just like her mother. Now she must figure out what sort of trouble she's willing to get into to find out the truth.

About the Author :
Catherine Barter grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, a market town in the middle of England best known as Shakespeare's birthplace. When she was eighteen I moved to Norwich to study American literature at university, and stayed there for the next ten years (except for one year living in Plattsburgh, New York). She has worked in libraries, bookshops, universities and an organization campaigning for the rights of garment workers. Currently she lives in East London and co-manages Housmans, a radical bookshop in King's Cross.

Review :
Troublemakers is a novel about what it means to be family--from inside jokes and warm conversations over cups of tea, to unspoken anxieties born out of deep love and terrible loss. Catherine Barter's impressive debut will make you laugh, cry, and be thankful for the people in your lives who stand by you, no matter what.--Bryan Bliss, author of National Book Award Longlist selection We'll Fly Away -- "Other Print" A 15-year-old London girl struggles with family tensions against a backdrop of bombings, crime, and political skulduggery. Lena, whose mum died when she was only 3, has been lovingly raised by her brother, Danny (20 years her senior), and his partner, Nick. But Danny's just gotten a job working for a law-and-order political candidate, and now there's constant tension at home. There's a bomber attacking East London supermarkets, and Danny's boss--in statements Danny wrote for him--uses anti-crime language that Nick, who runs a hippie coffee shop that displays anti-establishment leaflets, despises. As the couple decide to separate to ease the tension in their relationship, Lena becomes increasingly curious about the mother she doesn't remember, further infuriating her brother. Why is Danny so hostile toward their mother's old friends? Real life is messy, Lena learns. As well as that: You don't have to be political to be moral; good people sometimes do rotten things; doing right sometimes hurts the wrong people; and you don't always get cinematic closure with the secrets of your past. Several secondary characters represent the multiculturalism of modern London; Lena and her family are assumed white. Amid a thoroughly contemporary story about terrorism, email leaks, and a divisive political climate, Lena's coming-of-age is wonderfully individual and heartbreakingly real.--starred, Kirkus Reviews -- "Journal" Alena has lived with her brother, Danny, since she was three. She knows he and his boyfriend share secrets about Alena and Danny's mother's troubled life. But every time Lena tries to talk to Danny about it, he shuts her down. At 15, Lena feels old enough to handle the truth, and if Danny won't give it to her, well, she'll start making trouble herself by trying to dig up the real story. Her two friends, Ollie and Tegan, will be there to help her through the triumphs and sorrows that soon come, as Lena tries to navigate her confusing past and uncertain future with a frightening present--a unknown person called the East End Bomber is terrorizing her area of London. Barter's debut displays impressive skill and authenticity in relating issues of family secrets and grief. Readers will connect with Lena on her dramatic, heartrending journey as she begins to suss out the ambiguity of other people's choices and fateful decisions that happened long before she was born.--Booklist -- "Journal" Alena's story is both timely and timeless. It beautifully navigates of-the-moment issues of modern politics and domestic terrorism with the enduring questions young people have always faced: what it means to be good, what it means to be brave, how to love, how to lose, how families make and remake themselves in the face of ever-changing dangers, both real and imagined.--Jessie Ann Foley, author of Morris Award Finalist The Carnival at Bray -- "Blog" Barter debuts with an engrossing family story set in London. Danny became the legal guardian of his younger sister, Alena, when she was three and he was 22, after their mother died. Alena is 15 as the novel opens, and she yearns to learn more about her activist mother, but even the smallest question sends Danny into a rage. Only Nick, Danny's longtime partner and Alena's second dad, will engage with her on the subject. Though Alena has plenty of strong friendships, and everyone is talking about a bomber terrorizing London's East End, the focus of this novel is on her family, her growing conflict with Danny about their mother, and the job he's taken managing the campaign of a conservative candidate, to Nick's chagrin. Barter confidently laces conflict and tension into the relationships among Nick, Danny, and Alena, drawing out the hardships they've faced during a decade of grief, doing their best to be a stable family. The bomber subplot feels peripheral, a device intended to add urgency, but Barter's novel should appeal to a wide audience for its emotional honesty and its complex characters and relationships.--Publishers Weekly -- "Journal" When Lena was three years old, her mother died suddenly. Lena's half-brother Danny, 22 years old at the time, became her legal guardian. Danny had only been dating Nick for a few months at the time of Lena's adoption, but Nick 'apparently liked [her] brother enough that he didn't complain that Danny now came with a three-year-old.' Twelve years later, all of Lena's memories are of life with Danny and Nick. This isn't a bad thing--she loves them and they are the only parents she has ever known--but she is disappointed with her three-year-old self for not creating any mother memories. Danny refuses to talk about their mother, and he has to be treated 'like [he] might be carrying ancient unexploded weapons inside' of him at all times. Which means that, when Lena finds a picture (and then a video) of their mother at a protest with baby Danny, she has to do some snooping into the past to learn more. As Lena digs into history Danny would rather she left alone, Danny gets a new job working for a conservative politician whom Nick, the owner of a small, all-organic coffee shop, loathes. Meanwhile, a bomber targets London's grocery stores, making the city tense and wary. Indie bookstore manager Catherine Barter's debut novel for teens is a quiet, powerful work. Most of the story is in the things left unsaid and undone--bombs that haven't exploded, histories that haven't been told--making Lena and the city she inhabits seem on the edge of a radical change. Troublemakers is an affecting dive into the everyday of a family striving for stability in an ever-changing world. Discover: Catherine Barter's debut YA novel is a tense, subtle work about family and bringing secrets to light.--Shelf Awareness -- "Website" 4Q 3P J S Alena has lived with her brother Danny and his partner, Nick, as long as she can remember, and during her fifteenth year, it suddenly begins to seem like a problem. Why does she not remember anything about her mother, who died when she was three? Why does Danny refuse to talk about their mother? Alena has many questions and she is getting no answers. She is angry and frustrated, and worried that Danny never really wanted to take her on. To make it worse, there is someone placing bombs around London, and Danny has gone to work for a politician of whom Nick disapproves. Everything feels wrong and scary. Barter has done a great job of creating a time and place in Alena's life when her emotions are overwhelming. Anger and uncertainty seep through the pages of the book. Although set in London, readers in almost any location will recognize the problems in today's societies: domestic terrorism, economic uncertainty, negative reactions towards the 'other.' The main characters are well developed and readers will worry right along with Alena's family. Some of the side characters are a bit flat, but Alena is compelling enough to carry the book. Readers will root for Alena and cringe at her impulsive actions. Give this to fans of I Am Princess X (Scholastic, 2016) and Code of Honor (Scholastic, 2015/VOYA August 2015) and to readers who like contemporary settings and issues.--VOYA -- "Journal"