Review: Something Certain, Maybe by Sara Barnard

Rosie is eighteen and about to embark on a pharmacy degree at Norfolk University. Away from home, away from her friends and away from her beloved mum, Rosie is equal parts nervous and excited, ready to live college life to the full. Except it doesn’t happen that way. University life is nothing like Rosie expects, and so this novel becomes about learning to adapt as well as about growing up, love and expectations vs reality. Rosie is richly drawn by the author; we live inside her head for the duration of the novel and so we get to know her in all her complexities. She is stubborn and rude and sullen – but also caring, sweet, and open to love when it finds her. She’s a wonderful YA protagonist – complex yet relatable, not always perfect but always trying her best.

This novel is one that will strike a chord with anyone who didn’t get a “best days of your life” experience at university. The novel is also a celebration of friendship – Rosie’s two home friends, Caddy and Suze, remain her rocks in a turbulent year. Barnard writes with compassion and tenderness towards all her characters which made the novel all the more moving.

However, the pacing lacked, flattening the reading experience; cutting fifty pages would make for a stronger novel. Fully-realised friendships and plenty of drama are slowed down by pages of meandering, which kept this novel from becoming a great one.

Áine O’Connell