The girl in the bubble and the boy in black

3.5 stars

Madeleine has never left her house or been outside. She’s got a rare auto-immune disorder and lives in a house hermetically sealed, with special filters making sure nothing gets in that could hurt her. The only people she sees regularly are her mother, whose a doctor, and her nurse, Carla. On very special occasions, when he’s been decontaminated thoroughly, she’s allowed to meet one of her favourite tutors, but Madeline’s life is lived mostly vicariously through books and the internet, dreaming of the outside world.

Everything changes when Oliver, or “Olly” and his family move in next door. Olly is tall and handsome and wears all black. He and his younger sister try to give Madeline and her mother a bundt cake as a welcoming gift, but aren’t allowed inside. Olly’s inventive and does his best to get Madeline’s attention. Soon they are exchanging messages, and he takes to calling her Maddy, because everyone should have a nickname.

The teens communicate through their windows and on messages, frequently late at night, as Maddy is pretty sure her mother isn’t going to be enthusiastic about her new friendship. She confides in Carla, however, and eventually, the nurse agrees to let Olly in to visit.

Maddy has lived seventeen years in isolation. She knows that leaving the house could be disastrous, but she also wants to feel like she has actually lived. She concocts a wild plan and persuades Olly to go along with it, telling him she’s been taking a new kind of drug that will protect her from all her allergies of the outside world. So Maddy and Olly go off together to Hawaii, where Maddy will walk on a beach, bathe in the ocean and really experience life. She’s willing to risk her life to really live, if only for a few days.

Full review on my blog.