Dear Nobody
First edition
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| Author | Berlie Doherty |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Sophie Williams |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult realist novel |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton |
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Publication date
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21 November 1991 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback) |
| Pages | 150 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 26213419 |
| LC Class | PZ7.D6947 De 1992 |
Dear Nobody is a realistic young-adult novel by Berlie Doherty, published by Hamilton in 1991. Set in the northern England city of Sheffield, it features an unplanned teenage pregnancy and tells the story of its effect on the teenagers and their families.
Doherty won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. Through 2012 she is one of seven writers with two such honors, having won the 1986 Medal for Granny Was a Buffer Girl. Also set in Sheffield, the earlier novel is a family saga whose point of entry is the Sheffield cutlery industry.
Orchard Books published the first U.S. edition in 1992.
Dear Nobody has been translated into many languages, and the stage version is often performed.
The novel is split between two points of view, a first-person narrative presenting the events as Chris recalls them in retrospect, interspersed with a series of letters from Helen to their unborn child (Nobody), telling her side of the story as she experiences it. The framing sequence is set in autumn as Chris is on the verge of leaving for Newcastle University. A parcel of letters is delivered for him, and he recognizes Helen's handwriting. He begins to read the letters, all addressed to "Dear Nobody", and they remind him of the past nine months. The subsequent chapter headings are all the names of months, beginning with January.
Helen and Chris make love for the first, and only, time. Chris is prompted to ask his father about his marriage breakdown, and decides to get in touch with his mother. Shortly afterwards Helen begins to fear she is pregnant. Chris is disturbed by her distant behaviour. In late February she finally tells him her suspicions, and writes her first letter to "Dear Nobody": "You're only a shadow. You're only a whisper... Leave me alone. Go away. Go away. Please, please, go away."
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Wikipedia