Review by Ian Keogh

We all have problems and hardships in life, but what if there were a way someone could take control of their own destiny? That’s what Tara O’Connor explores in The Altered History of Willow Sparks.

Willow has a relatively mundane life attending school, where she’s bullied for being socially awkward, but her respite is helping out at the local library. That is until the bullies turn up there when she’s alone one night. However, what might have been a tragedy has a silver lining when Willow discovers a book detailing her life to that point and a pen that appears to allow her to write her own story.

It’s an intriguing premise, but limited by Tara O’Connor not being able to distil what’s actually necessary for the story. The paragraph above, for instance, covers a third of the book to arrive at where the main plot kicks in. The mitigation is the attractive art in black, white and bluish grey. O’Connor creates recognisable people and draws them showing what they’re experiencing emotionally. Care is taken with the backgrounds to ensure houses look as if people actually live in them, and there are consequences when it rains.

While it takes a long time arriving at the main event, O’Connor has established the cast, and Willow’s best friend Georgia is very interesting, supportive without agreeing with everything Willow does or says. She realised the point of life isn’t to have an easy ride. In fact Willow’s only making small personal changes to her life, and others stem naturally from these. However, while she might not act on it as rapidly as she should, Willow’s quickly aware that hanging with the popular crowd doesn’t bring instant satisfaction either.

By the end O’Connor has supplied an engaging morality fable, understated in some respects as she’s not opted for the sensationalism of large changes. Working through the slow start pays off.