Ketchup Clouds

Ketchup Clouds

Author	Annabel Pitcher
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Young adult
Publisher	Indigo division of Orion Publishing Group
Publication date	2012

Ketchup Clouds is a 2012 teen novel by Annabel Pitcher. It tells the story of a girl about the age of 15 who has a dark secret she is afraid to confess to anyone but her pen pal, a murderer on Death Row. It won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize.

Plot

The book revolves around a 15-year-old girl who, to keep her identity, calls herself Zoe, and claims to live on 1 Fiction Road, somewhere near Bath, England. The story is told in written letters to a murderer on Death Row (Stuart Harris), whom she believes is the only person she can confide in, after admitting to killing his wife. Zoe feels like Stuart is the only person she can confess her secret to, because he knows how it feels to have murdered someone that he loved. Zoe lives with her two sisters, 10-year-old Sophie and 6-year-old Dot (Dorothy), who is deaf and communicates through sign language. She also lives with her parents (Simon and Jane), who had been arguing constantly in the recent weeks, mainly surrounding Jane’s grudge against Simon’s dad, in the light of being revealed as ill. The grudge remains a mystery to Zoe, who hasn’t seen her grandfather in years.

Zoe is invited to an end of summer party by Max Morgan, the most popular boy in her year at school. Knowing that her mum will never allow her to go, Zoe asks her dad and is given permission. Outside the party Zoe starts an interesting conversation with a boy (at least two years older) she has never met, but is dragged away by her best friend, Lauren, before they can learn each other’s names. Inside the house she catches the boy’s eye but loses him again. In an effort to find him she encounters Max Morgan. They subsequently make out in Max’s bedroom, leading to Zoe being topless. Once returned to school, Lauren reveals to Zoe that in her drunken state, Max took a photo of her bare chest, sent it to his friend, who sent it to everyone at school. Zoe later confronts Max, who takes no notice of her anger and goes home without apologising.

Zoe goes to the annual Bonfire Night celebration and meets the boy from the party, he tells her his name is Aaron. Aaron then goes off with a girl who Zoe assumes is his girlfriend. Heart-broken, she then runs into Max, who gives an honest apology and kisses her. Upon leaving, Max says his brother is driving him home, Zoe approaches the car to see Aaron, realising that the two are brothers. That evening Zoe receives a text from Max, inviting her to his house the next day. Even though she prefers Aaron, she thinks that he is already taken, so accepts Max’s invite. After her dad refuses to explain her mum’s grudge against her grandfather, Zoe chooses to believe that if they can have secrets, she can too. So Zoe goes to Max’s house, but on leaving, she sees Aaron, and lies about visiting his brother. Aaron then drives her home, and they talk all the way. Aaron gives Zoe his number. Suddenly an ambulance drives by her house, Zoe goes to a distraught Sophie, who says that Dot fell down the stairs and went unconscious. Zoe takes Sophie in a taxi to the hospital where they meet their parents. Dot is well, but has a broken wrist.

Zoe then meets Aaron at the library during her shift. They are about to kiss before Zoe is interrupted by a woman needing assistance, but by the time she’d helped her Aaron is leaving. The pair sees each other at the library more often after then. Zoe goes to a party at Lauren’s house, where she saw Aaron with the same girl from earlier. Upset, Zoe tries to escape the party but runs into Max. After making out with each other, Max tries to introduce Zoe to his brother. After a little resistance, Zoe accepts the inevitable and admits to Aaron that she’s together with Max. Max leaves the two alone for a moment (oblivious to all going on) and Aaron explains that the girl wasn’t his girlfriend but an old childhood friend, and bluntly says that there was nothing between him and Zoe anyway. But she believes he is lying. As revenge, Zoe continues to date Max and goes to his house without Aaron knowing. Sandra (mother) gets Aaron to drive her home. They argue the whole way, and part on bad terms. Later on Zoe’s parents have a big argument also, and hint to the fact that it was Jane’s fault that Dot is deaf.

Zoe meets Aaron in the library but he blanks her. She tries to explain herself but Aaron won’t have any of it until Zoe kisses him. They both run out of the library, into the rain, and confess their love for each other. They both plan to tell Max what has been going on, but after his dad (who divorced from his mother) is due to marry another woman, Aaron says Max is upset and not in the right state to break up, and needs Zoe’s care during this time. A while later Zoe goes to the Spring Fair, where the brothers will be, and decides that this is when she has to break up with Max. During the fair, it begins to rain heavily. Angry and drunk, Max stumbles into a forest, Zoe and Aaron following. Max catches the pair kissing and goes into a fit of rage, demanding answers, and unknowingly edges closer to a fast-moving stream. He fights with Aaron and repeatedly calls Zoe a ‘slut’, then when he tries to grab Zoe, Aaron and Zoe push him away simultaneously, causing Max to fall into the river, being swept away by the stream and to drown. Aaron calls an ambulance, stating that Max slipped.

In her last letter, Zoe is racked by guilt, and refuses to visit Sandra and the rest of Max’s family. So her mum tells her that her dad was right, and that it is her fault Dot is deaf. She explains that she originally didn’t want a third child, and in her initial resentment ended up overlooking a mild illness that Dot had. Dot ended up going to the hospital with meningitis. Although being saved, the doctors couldn’t save her hearing. Jane’s grudge against Zoe’s grandfather came from being called a bad mother by him after the whole incident. She explained that you have to let go of guilt, for guilt is what destroys a person. Zoe eventually goes to Max’s funeral and reads out a poem written by Mr Harris. She signs her letter with her real name, Alice Jones.

The book ends with a letter addressed to Alice from Aaron, who is living his dream to travel round the world, and is currently in Bolivia. He says that once he’s finished writing his letter, ‘I’ll tear it up and throw it away, just like I’ve done with all the rest…True love is about sacrifice, after all, and if I want you to be free of the memory of Max, you need to be free of me…Spread those strong wings of yours. Fly.’