The Laugh is a bright and lively book about loss and grief and about ways to remember someone you’ve lost.

It shows the process of loss extremely well, from the mother looking ill to using the word ‘died’ when the mother died. This is extremely important as children sometimes just don’t get the euphemisms that adults use around the subject of death.

The use of the sunflower as a motif throughout the book emphasises the warmth that the mother expressed along with the deadheading once the flower had died to symbolise the loss of the mother.

This deals with death in a very honest and straightforward way and explains that though there will be gaps there, there will be emptiness that the love and brightness that the other person inpired in you is still there waiting to blossom when the time is right.

A brilliant book and one I want on our shelves to recommend when required.