Eight, Almost Nine

Olga Olsson is eight, going on nine, and rather happy with her life. But when her mum is taken to the hospital, she suddenly has to go stay with her aunt and uncle. They are kind, though it turns out their daughter Augusta doesn’t want Olga to live with them. She wants her mum and dad to herself.

Augusta is mean to Olga, yet Olga has to be kind. That’s what she promised her mum — otherwise her aunt can’t let her stay. But one day, when Olga is accused of making her cousin walk on a dangerous bridge railing, life seems so unfair that she runs away to her mum in the hospital.

Eight, Going on Nine is a story about trying to cope without the most important thing you have and which you have never been without. But also about discovering that there are other people around you, who you might not have thought of at first. It’s about the difficulty in being kind, about realising you don’t have to be perfect to be liked — and about a cousin who turns out to be a real friend.