The Best Medicine

The book is a real insight into how a parent’s illness can impact a child, and the unusual ways they cope with it all. A perfect little book if you your little one knows a close family member who is battling cancer, and is unsure how to deal with the diagnosis.

* Mummypages *

The story drives along at a rollicking pace – the comedy and the serious matter of potential tragedy harmonising nicely.

* The Irish Times *

Christine Hamill has a way of bringing humour to the trauma of cancer that no other author has dared to.

* The Belfast Telegraph *

The light-hearted touch in this story stops it from becoming a maudlin tale about illness, which is particularly clever given the subject matter. Instead, it is a down-to-earth, funny, emotive story which has you laughing and crying at the same time. Philip’s observations and reactions to his Mum’s perplexing behaviour are utterly realistic and many will be able to relate to his feelings of desperation. When the truth is finally revealed, that his Mum is facing a battle with cancer, it is done so with extreme care by the author. Whilst the realities are bleak, Philip sets about trying to cope, sort out his problems and help his Mum, with hilarious and moving moments throughout … This uplifting book will open the eyes of those who think illness should be kept behind closed doors and only whispered about.

* The Book Activist *

The stages of Philip’s Mum’s illness and treatment and its emotional effects are portrayed convincingly and the light-hearted fictional approach to a difficult subject, told through Philip’s likeable, funny voice, will help young people to understand and cope with a situation that many are likely to face.

* Books for Keeps *

The story steers its way through the tricky subject of coping with cancer to great effect. A story that could so easily resort to pathos rises to become a tenacious tale, invested with genuinely funny moments.

* Carousel Magazi