The Illustrated Mum, by Jacqueline Wilson

Marigold has always been an unusual mother. For one things, she's practically covered in tatoos. But she also has her moods. And Dolphin and Star have to be careful when their mother gets into her mood swings and starts freaking out. As Star gets older, she's less and less willing to put up with her mother or with trying to protect her younger sister, and when Star's father appears and offers to take care of both girls, the delicate balance of their family is tipped.

Not entirely sure why I picked this book out as it is the old (very) tired plot of the mentally-ill mother and the co-dependent children who refuse time-and-time-again to get help from any other adults. Frail thin subterfuges are invented by the author so that page after page we are presented with one harrowing incident after another, and the children needlessly suffer. I've grown to believe that this plot device is sadistic and exploitative and not dramatic at all and I wanted seriously to throw this book against the wall and burn it in the grill out back. What rubbish!