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8 min read
Reader ratingreader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
4.5
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Toffee by Sarah Crossan Review: A Verse Novel of Identity and Unlikely Refuge
Toffee is a young adult verse novel by Sarah Crossan, Irish children's laureate and Carnegie Medal-winning author, in which a teenager fleeing domestic abuse forges an unexpected bond with an elderly woman living with dementia — a story built on borrowed identities, grief, and the slow, painful discovery of self.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Older teen readers (and adults) drawn to poetic, emotionally resonant storytelling who want to explore themes of domestic abuse, dementia, and the search for identity through a spare, award-winning verse novel.
Worth it if
You're open to verse fiction and want a compact yet deeply layered story about survival, chosen connection, and self-discovery — particularly if you've appreciated Crossan's earlier Carnegie Medal-winning work.
Skip if
You're looking for a conventional prose narrative or aren't in the headspace for heavy subject matter encompassing domestic violence and cognitive decline, as the compressed verse format and weighty themes demand sustained emotional attention.
What readers & critics say
The Guardian praises each verse piece as individually satisfying, "strung together to create a spectrum of pain and consolation," with sparse language that "reveals the artistry in every phrase," while Kirkus Reviews (via BookBrowse) awarded the novel a starred review, calling it "an emotional verse novel that addresses domestic violence, teen homelessness, and intergenerational friendship."
“Each piece is as satisfying as a smoothed piece of seaglass, strung together to create a spectrum of pain and consolation — the sparse words reveal the artistry in every phrase.”
— The Guardian“Crossan conveys the teen's story in raw verse — an emotional verse novel that addresses domestic violence, teen homelessness, and intergenerational friendship.”
— Kirkus Reviews4.5from 400 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Toffee is a verse novel by Carnegie Medal-winner Sarah Crossan in which teenager Allison, fleeing domestic abuse, takes refuge with Marla, an elderly woman living with dementia who mistakes her for a childhood friend — a case of borrowed identity that slowly forces Allison to search for her true self. Crossan's signature compression of language, praised by The Guardian for building "a spectrum of pain and consolation," makes this a standout in the verse novel form, ideally suited to readers prepared for serious subject matter handled with artistry. Those expecting conventional prose fiction, or seeking lighter YA fare, should approach with that expectation adjusted.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers open to the verse novel form and willing to engage with serious subject matter, Toffee represents Crossan at her most assured — a writer whose Carnegie Medal win for One and Costa shortlisting for Moonrise confirm a sustained mastery of this form rather than a novelty experiment. The Guardian's praise for language that 'reveals the artistry in every phrase' speaks to how the compressed verse is inseparable from the novel's themes of silence, evasion, and identity. The key caveat is that those expecting chapter-based prose fiction will need to adjust their reading pace and approach entirely, as the form demands a different kind of attention.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to Toffee's unflinching treatment of trauma and identity in a YA framework will find strong companions in Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, which addresses sexual assault and teenage silence with similarly spare, powerful prose, and Kathleen Glasgow's Girl in Pieces, another raw YA exploration of self-harm and recovery. Tamara Ireland Stone's Every Last Word uses a comparable focus on a teen girl's interior life and mental health, while Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower shares Toffee's preoccupation with chosen family, trauma, and adolescent self-discovery.
- Who should read this?
- Toffee is best suited to older teenage readers and adults who are drawn to compressed, poetic storytelling and who are prepared for subject matter encompassing domestic abuse, cognitive decline, and identity crisis. It is particularly well-matched to readers who have responded to other YA novels dealing with trauma and chosen family, and to those already familiar with the verse novel form — though Crossan has designed the short, self-contained pieces to be accessible even to readers new to poetry-as-prose. Bloomsbury publishes it with a recommended reading age of 13 and up, though the thematic weight skews it toward the older end of that range.
- What age is it for?
- Best for ages 13 and up, in line with Bloomsbury's own recommended reading age. The verse format and short, self-contained pieces are accessible to confident younger teen readers, but the subject matter — domestic abuse, cognitive decline in an elderly character, and a teenager navigating identity crisis — is most meaningfully engaged with by older teens and adults. Parents and educators should note these themes when recommending the book to readers at the younger end of the YA range.
- About Sarah Crossan
- Sarah Crossan is a Young Adult author known for Toffee, a novel that explores friendship and coming-of-age themes. Her writing in the YA genre focuses on character-driven narratives that resonate with teen readers.
- Is this a good book club pick?
- Toffee offers strong book club material: the central premise — a teenager assuming a false identity to survive, then questioning that fiction — raises rich questions about selfhood, deception, and what constitutes genuine connection. The treatment of dementia and domestic abuse alongside the concept of chosen family gives groups substantial real-world themes to discuss, while the verse structure itself invites conversation about how form and content interact. Crossan's background as a Carnegie Medal-winning author also provides useful context for exploring what the verse novel form can achieve that prose cannot.
- How does this compare to Crossan's other work?
- Toffee sits firmly within the body of work Crossan has built across multiple acclaimed verse novels. Her debut The Weight of Water earned wide acclaim in 2011; One, a story of conjoined twins, won the Carnegie Medal in 2016; and Moonrise, following a boy saying farewell to a brother on death row, was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Children's Prize. Toffee continues recurring preoccupations — belonging, identity, grief, and trauma — making it a confident extension of her signature voice rather than a departure, and one that existing fans will find immediately recognisable.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What age is it for?
About Sarah Crossan
Is this a good book club pick?
How does this compare to Crossan's other work?
Summarize this book
Toffee follows Allison, a teenager who has run away from her abusive father while searching for Kelly-Anne, his former fiancée and the one adult who offered her real care. Stranded in a Cornish seaside town, she takes shelter in what seems to be an abandoned house, only to discover that Marla, an elderly woman living with dementia, still lives there. When Marla mistakes Allison for a childhood friend named Toffee, Allison accepts the role as a matter of survival — but the deception gradually becomes more complicated as genuine connection grows and Allison begins searching for the shape of her own identity. The novel's title carries dual weight: it is both the name Allison performs and the fiction she must ultimately shed.
Follow up
Does it have a hopeful ending?
Where is the book set?
What does the verse format feel like to read?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Ages 12–18
Reading level
Young adult
Content to know about
domestic abuse
cognitive decline / dementia
identity crisis and deception
Best for: Ages 13+ — subject matter covering domestic abuse, dementia, and an adolescent identity crisis suits older teen readers and above
Skip if you're looking for conventional prose fiction or a lighter YA read without heavy thematic content
Our Review
This review covers the content and published reception of Toffee from available sources; it does not reflect hands-on reading or testing by this editorial team.
What the Book Is and What Happens
Toffee tells the story of Allison, a teenager who has run away from her abusive father while searching for Kelly-Anne, his former fiancée — the one adult who offered her real care. Stranded in a Cornish seaside town, Allison takes refuge in what appears to be an abandoned house, only to find that Marla, an elderly woman living with dementia, still resides there. When Marla mistakes Allison for a childhood friend named Toffee, Allison accepts the role without correction. The deception that begins as pure survival gradually becomes something more complicated: as Allison grows closer to Marla, she becomes less willing to sustain the fiction and begins, instead, to search for the shape of her own true self. The novel's title, then, carries a dual weight — it is both the name Allison performs and the identity she must ultimately shed.
Crossan's Place in the Verse Novel Tradition
Crossan has been described by critical coverage as the driving force behind the verse novel's resurgence on this side of the Atlantic. Her 2011 debut, The Weight of Water, earned wide acclaim; One, a story of conjoined twins, won the Carnegie Medal in 2016; and Moonrise, following a boy saying farewell to a brother on death row, was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Children's Prize. Toffee arrives within this body of work as a continuation of recurring preoccupations — belonging, identity, grief, trauma, and the struggle to carve out one's place in the world. Understanding this lineage matters: Crossan is not a writer dabbling in verse as a novelty but an author who has built a sustained, decorated body of work entirely within the form.
The Craft of the Verse Structure
The novel is divided into short verse pieces, typically a page or two in length. Critical coverage describes each of these pieces as "as satisfying as a smoothed piece of seaglass, strung together to create a spectrum of pain and consolation," adding that "the sparse words reveal the artistry in every phrase." The review further notes that the book is saturated with a sense of secrecy, quoting the lines: "We nudged the truth out of the way with our elbows / And waded through heavy silence." This compression — the choice to say only what is essential — is the form's central gamble, and it is one Crossan has practised across multiple acclaimed titles. The short, self-contained pieces are designed to be individually resonant while accumulating into a larger emotional arc, making the verse structure inseparable from the novel's themes of silence, evasion, and eventual disclosure.
Themes and Their Scope
Beyond its plot mechanics, Toffee engages seriously with dementia, domestic abuse, and mental health, as well as the question of what constitutes a family. The publisher, Bloomsbury, describes the novel as exploring "mental health and friendship while asking what it means to be a family." These are not incidental concerns: the central relationship between Allison and Marla forces both characters into a space where conventional identity markers — names, histories, roles — become unstable, and where genuine human connection has to be negotiated around loss and deception. The novel asks, pointedly, how a person can know who they truly are when others have always defined them — a question that resonates across both the teenage experience of abuse and the experience of dementia.
Who This Book Is For
Published by Bloomsbury YA with a recommended reading age of 13 and up, Toffee is squarely aimed at older teenage readers, though Crossan's verse novels have historically attracted adult readers alongside younger audiences. Readers who respond to compressed, poetic storytelling — and who are prepared for subject matter encompassing domestic abuse, cognitive decline, and identity crisis — will find the form well-matched to the emotional weight of the material. Those expecting a conventional prose narrative may need time to settle into the rhythm of the verse structure, as the form demands a different kind of reading attention than chapter-based fiction. For readers already familiar with Crossan's earlier work, Toffee will read as a confident extension of her signature voice and concerns.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
bookbrowse.com
- 2
publishersweekly.com
- 3
- Further reading
- 4
Sarah Crossan, Wikipedia
- 5
- 6
amazon.com
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