Product Description

To the casual eye, teenagers Jane and Beverley are opposites. Wealthy, beautiful and clever, Beverley seems to have everything while disturbed and lonely Jane has just seen her mother die in appalling circumstances, and has come to live with her grandparents in the same small town as Beverley - Underlyme in Dorset by the sea. But Beverley's life isn't so perfect after all. Behind the glossy facade, it's anything but. And when something terrible happens to her on holiday, she comes home to find there's nobody left to turn to - except Jane herself. Initially, Beverley finds solace in Jane's total adoration. But gradually she begins to realise there is something different, something dark about Jane. Little does she know just how different, just how dark ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1373681 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
A spine-chiller from a fresh young talent, this is a novel which combines gritty dialogue with a degree of literary style. The Beach Road captures the trials and tribulations of being with the in-crowd: at first sight Jane is a typical angsty thirteen-going-on-fourteen-year-old, but her emotional baggage is in fact a great deal more cumbersome than the average teenager's. When her dysfunctional mother, Carol, dies, Jane is welcomed into the cosy, chintzy Dorset homestead of her well-meaning yet appallingly naive grandparents, Alf and Mary. They try too hard to please her, thinking kindness will paper ove the cracks in her dented personality. Jane is so damaged, she resorts to self-mutilation. It's her way of coping with the past traumas. As well as losing her mother, she's been the victim of intimidation. Nobody really wants her around. She's just 'that girl'. But relocation means switching schools, and when she starts Underlyme Grammar, that's when she first sets eyes on the 'golden advert girl', Beverley Green. An unlikely friendship strikes up between the pair. Jane feeds on the suburban fantasy world she's conjured up about her new friend who comes from the well-heeled end of town, with its long drives and private swimming pools, frustrated housewives and cheating husbands. Beverley merely uses Jane as an emotional stop-gap after a particularly traumatic experience she has when holidaying in America with her family. But who's kidding who? Each member of this seaside community is caught up in a web of deceit. Jane lies to her trusting grandparents, and even when her friendship with Beverley ends, she keeps up the pretence. Then things turn really nasty. And when a schoolgirl's emotions spiral out of control, nothing will ever be the same again. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Sarah Diamond is an advertising copywriter in her early twenties. She works in Soho and lives in Brixton.

Customer Reviews

I have to let people know what they're missing.
This is the first time I've ever written a review online, but I have to let people know what they're missing! as soon as I picked The Beach Road up, I couldn't put it down, and I thought it was fantastic. It's frightening, gripping and brilliantly written, and anyone who's ever been a teenage girl will be able to relate to the story and characters. It's just a shame it hasn't got more publicity behind it..it's miles more exciting and readable than most of the women's fiction that gets advertised on posters and stuff. I can't say this too strongly or too often - BUY THIS BOOK!

An all-round fantastic read
In this novel, Sarah Diamond has perfectly captured the feelings of a dark, obsessive adoration. Beverley is the "golden advert girl": the girl Jane would love to be, who befriends her and makes her feel, for a time, wanted. However, neither of the two girls really know anything about one another, and it is when truths come to the surface, and indeed when Beverley decides she does not need Jane any more, that the novel reaches its shocking climax. The Beach Road has everything: it is extremely dark, full of suspense and really demonstrates how cruel, insensitive and self-indulgent young adults can be. The main characters are so well described that it is almost as though we are there with them, feeling what they are feeling. I read the entire book in one sitting, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good, well-written read.

Average
This book was incredibly easy to read and it did hold my interest, although I felt the ending was a bit weak. It was quite dark in places and it did make me think about the rough deals some people get in life. However, there are much better thrillers out there.