What Milo Saw By Virginia Macgregor

[amazon_link id=”0751554243″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’What Milo Saw’ is Virginia Macgregor’s debut book.

Milo Moon has retinitis pigmentosa: his eyes are slowly failing and he will eventually go blind. But for now he sees the world through a pin hole and notices things other people don’t. When Milo’s beloved gran succumbs to dementia and moves into a nursing home, Milo soon realises there’s something very wrong at the home. The grown-ups won’t listen to him so with just Tripi, the nursing home’s cook, and Hamlet, his pet pig, to help, Milo sets out on a mission to expose the nursing home and the sinister Nurse Thornhill. Insightful, wise and surprising, What Milo Saw is a novel filled with big ideas, simple truths and an emotional message that will resonate with everyone. Milo sees the world in a very special way and it will be impossible for you not to fall in love with him, savour every moment you spend with him and then share his story with everyone you know.

What can I say about this book? I loved and adored it and it left me sobbing on the bus home. It’s a story about one of the most generous and kindhearted characters that I have ever read in my life.

The story is seen through the perspective of a number of different characters mainly from the Moon family after the wake of a house fire that resulted in Milo’s mute grandmother Lou, ended up being put into Forget Me Not nursing home. The perfect place for her now that Milo’s mum, Sandy is unable to look after her. But Milo has other ideas and wants his grandmother back home where she belongs and has given himself until Christmas for her return. His grandmother, Lou is his best friend, even though she is mute and hasn’t spoke since her husband’s death, the two of them have a close relationship where they communicate through notes. Their relationship is a beautifully sweet one, Milo takes it upon himself as her carer, even though he is only 9, he washes and looks out for her. Milo is an absolute sweetheart of a character, suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, he has very limited vision and at some point in his life, his whole sight will completely disappear. But for now, he treasures his pinhole vision, concentrating hard on the world around, he notices things that people might never see. It’s with this gifted observation, that Milo notices that not everything with is alright with the nursing home, it’s not the happy place that people are lead to believe and with the help of his new friend Tripi, he goes out to to prove that there is mistreatment in the nursing home. One of the many people that help Milo with his quest is Tripi, a Syrian refugee who has come to London hoping to build a new life for him and his sister, Ayishah who he left behind in Syria but it’s not as easy as he thought. Sleeping rough and working in a job as a chef where he rapidly loses his love for food and finds working in the nursing demotivating and disaffected. Sandy, Milo’s mother feels that she has let Milo down putting Lou in the nursing home, but with Lou’s accidents, she feels that she can no longer bear the burden especially since her business is suffering and Milo’s father has left her for a younger woman. She tries to hide it all from Milo, unaware of just how perceptive her son is.

The story is beautifully written and tells the story of the importance of friendship tremendously, whether it is with Milo with Lou, Tripi or even more wittily Milo’s relationship with his teacup pig pet Hamlet, an adorable pig who provides Milo with warmth and company now that Lou has gone. The scenes with Hamlet, I found particularly endearing and entertaining as he snuffles about exploring the world and keeping out of trouble. The story flows at a gentle pace, seen from the perspective of the characters as they all struggle with life, the problems of poverty and handles them with not only sensitivity but witty dialogue and characters to lighten the mood of the story,

A story that tugs at the heartstrings, I fell in love with Milo, the amazing hero of the story and quietly cheered him on as he tried to achieve his goal, with his huge heart and a head that was full of wisdom for someone so young this book was a charming tale. An amazing story from the very beginning, ‘What Milo Saw’ is a heartwarming and poignant story filled with humour, courage and is most definitely my favourite debut of 2014.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0751554243″ target=”_blank” ]What Milo Saw from Amazon [/amazon_link]and is avaialble from good bookshops.