Lola Rose

Lola Rose is a children's book written by the author Jacqueline Wilson. It is about Jayni Fenton a young girl who is runs away to London with her mother Nikki and brother Kenny after her abusive father turns on her.

Jayni, Nikki and Kenny all choose to have new names to stop her father from tracking them down. Nikki becomes Victoria Luck, Kenny becomes Kendall Luck and Jayni becomes Lola Rose Luck.

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Sypnosis

When life at home suddenly gets really frightening, Jayni, her mum and her brother Kenny have to pack their bags and escape in the middle of the night. They also have to choose new names and so Jayni becomes the glamorous, grown-up Lola Rose!

But Lola Rose's new life isn't quite as wonderful as her new name. And when Mum has to go into hospital, Lola Rose is forced to be much more grown than she really feels. File:Lolarose.jpg But no matter what, she stands up to herself and her family through all fears.

Plot

In the beginning, Jayni's mother, Nikki Fenton, wins £10,000 on a scratchcard. They decide to not tell Jayni's father, Jay, who she fears will spend it on his friends on drinks at the pub or losing it by going to a betting shop. However, Nikki decides to tell Jay anyway because he reveals he has left his job and is joining a mini-cab firm but needs to provide the car. Jay, Nikki, Jayni and her brother, Kenny, go out to T.G.I Fridays spending around £50 on the meal. Jayni fears for herself because as Nikki and Jay 'drank lots' it would almost always 'end in a fight'. Jay gets angry at Nikki for becoming drunk and when they return home, he starts shouting at her. As Jay goes to hit Nikki, she tells jay to let her put the kids to bed first. However Jayni refuses to go to bed and as a result, Jay gets angry and slaps both Jayni and Nikki, he then leaves the house. This was the last straw for Nikki. She had previously put up with the violent nature from her husband, but now he had turned to violence against Jayni, Nikki felt they had to leave.

They gather up as many of their possessions as they can physically carry, and with the money they won from the lottery, catch a taxi to the train station and move to London to begin a new life with new names and hopefully keep hidden away from Jay. They first go into a very tacky hotel and they are forced to change their names so their father cannot find them. Kenny thinks it is a game and complains he "doesn't like it" However, he eventually realizes it is real. Nikki spends hundreds of pounds on treats for herself and the children, taking them to a nearby aquarium. Kenny loves the sharks, but Jayni is terrified of them. Nikki soon realizes she will have to find a job and a new home. On the advice of their friendly maid, they go to a service to find them a home. The home found for them turns out to be an unkempt council flat, and they find it deeply unpleasant until they "do it up".

One night, Nikki goes to the pub to buy a packet of cigarettes from the machine and does not return home until after midnight, but consolingly she has found a new job (bar work), which means working set afternoons, and evenings if she is needed. The next thing to do is to get the children into school. Once achieved, a friend of Nikki's, Jake, comes to stay. One day, Jake reveals "Mum's got a lump," which had been growing in her breast for several months while she hoped it would clear up on its own. Meanwhile, Jake moves out because Nikki has run out of money. She has to go to hospital, but believing she will be back the next day, she leaves only a day's food and a little money. The children soon run out of money and food. Jayni finds out where her mother's obese sister Barbara lives, and rings her. She comes to stay and provides the children with food. Meanwhile Nikki is becoming worse because of an infection following the surgery. Nikki has stupidly telephoned Jay, thinking he will be shocked to discover she has been so ill and never touch her again. He finds a pair of Jake's boxer shorts, then, calling her a slag, balls up a fist to punch her. Barbara raises her fists as if to punch him, then slyly kicks him in the crotch. He proceeds to attack her with a broken mug, so she smacks him on the shoulder taking out the tendon, so that he drops the mug. She then shoots him out, threatening to kill him if he comes back again (though she later admits she didn't mean it). Jayni, Nikki and Kenny feel safe with the protection of Barbara and the book ends on a positive note. Barbara asks the children and finally Nikki whether they would like to come to her house to live, while they redecorated it (as Barbara likes the job they have done on the house) and did a karaoke act by her and Nikki. Jayni remembers children's stories in which the hero has to perform a terrifying but menial task. She envisions that to get her mother better she has to stand by the shark tank and count sixty seconds, sixty times. This she does. An aquarium worker sees this and says she must be a shark enthusiast. They chat about sharks for a few minutes and he gives her a shark's tooth, which is meant to bring good luck. She goes to the hospital and presses it into her mother's hand. Eventually he gets better and returns home. Jayni knows it has nothing to do with the tooth but it is comforting.