Out of the Blue: A heartwarming picture book about celebrating difference

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I was concerned at several points that it was going to go one way or the other, which I wouldn't have been happy about, but it ended up being perfect! J’aurais aimé que la fin nous en dise plus sur le destin de nos héros, mais en même temps, je crois que j’aurais pas aimé en savoir trop non plus (LA RELOUUUE). I know people criticize Disney's Little Mermaid because they say that Ariel gives up everything for Eric, but at least it was more than just a physical relationship.

Into the frame comes her Machiavellian best friend, Lily Jago, who, throughout the book, is following a selfish – and entirely misguided - agenda of her own. I was a bit dubious about reading this at all because of the lowish ratings, but I so glad that I decided to 'dive' in anyway! It details the work she did in various departments including Education, the Environment, Trade, and the Foreign Office.Especially because Crest does such a 180 to get there, and yet they don't have an actual character arc to mirror it. If there’s one thing missing from this juicy tale of high political farce, it’s arguably a more unsparing account of what allowed a politician so flawed to rise so high at the expense of us all: a previous leader promoting her to spite his rivals, a dysfunctional Conservative party, but also an indulgent rightwing press that turned on her only when it was too late.

Unlike most post-premiership books, I’m not sure this one will play a role in history looking more kindly on Truss, after her disastrous 50 days in office. We also discover that, maybe, her and her other record-breaking colleague, the shortest-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwazi Kwarteng, had been planning their mortgage-busting, market-torpedoing, pound-shrinking fiscal event at the beginning of her Conservative leadership campaign, and failed to be completely forthcoming about it during that time. But some of the mer aspects seem very Middle Grade and *before* the fade to black, it's like June is approaching adult content.Sure, the book is a hoot in parts, given the crazy goings on in the court of Truss, but frankly the joke is on us for being ‘governed’ by such a person in the first place. For me, though I loved the idea of a queer mermaid, and I was excited by the rep at large, this really wasn't the book for me.