The Last Days of Archie Maxwell ~ Annabel Pitcher

This review includes spoilers…

This was a recent borrow from my local library, I was initially intrigued by the cover, lack of blurb and that the author was Annabel Pitcher. I have previously read two of Pitcher’s other books, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece and Ketchup Clouds, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Last Days of Archie Maxwell follows Archie dealing with the aftermath of his father leaving the family home and coming out as a homosexual. Alongside this a fellow student is in turmoil after her brother jumped in front of a train, said train station overlooked by Archie’s bedroom window. 

A refreshing coming of age story that steers clear of the cliche ‘absent parent’ trope whilst also dealing with some hard hitting subjects such as suicide, mental illness, homophobia and bullying. For a book just shy of 150 pages it really does pack a punch making it a very emotive read. I was worried that I would not be able to connect with a character in such a short amount of time but I was wrong, Pitcher is great at handling such tough topics. Something that is apparent in My Sister LIves on the Mantelpiece as well.

Overall, I gave The Last Days of Archie Maxwell a 3.5 ⭐️ rating and would really like to read some of Pitcher’s other books.

M🌸