Gaby's Angel

Gaby's Angel
Janet Hogarth
Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013, 271p

When her best friend dies, Gaby is at a complete loss. She has other friends, but Emily was a bright, bubbly girl and the two friends came as a pair. Gaby knows life will never be the same again. And yet, it feels to Gaby like Emily is still around, watching over her like a guardian angel. Emily coaches Gaby through bad days at school and encourages her to get back out there. But Gaby is scared that Emily is pushing her towards the new girl at school, and if Gaby makes friends with Francesca, what does that mean for her angel, Emily?

Gaby's Angel is a heart-warming story about life after loss. It has all the typical tropes of a girly read, with embarrassing parents, boring days in school, and a handsome love interest; but it also explores the difficulties of being a teenage girl in extraordinary and tragic circumstances. 

And Gaby finds that she is not the only one suffering after the death of her friend. With time, she comes to realise that her classmates miss Emily, too. And even the new girl has experienced loss of another sort in her past. But friendship is the strongest medicine, and important theme in this novel.