Feeling Sorry for Celia

Infobox Book |
name = Feeling Sorry for Celia
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Jaclyn Moriarty
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = flag|Australia
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Pan Macmillan
release_date = 2000
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback) & AudioBook
pages =
isbn = ISBN 978-0330362108 (first edition, paperback)
followed_by = Finding Cassie Crazy

"Feeling Sorry for Celia" is a novel by Jaclyn Moriarty. It was first published in 2000 by Pan Macmillan.

"Finding Cassie Crazy" is a stand-alone/companion novel to this book which is set in the same school (Ashbury High). The story is told through letters exchanged between two students of different schools.

Plot

The main character, Elizabeth Clarry, is a 15-year-old who has been given the task of writing to a girl from the local comprehensive school by her English teacher. She writes to the girl, Christina, about her worries for her best friend, Celia Buckley, who has run away. Again. The plot also shows us the thoughts Elizabeth has along the way, by way of letters from the 'Association of Teenagers' and other such things. Of course, this is just Elizabeth's subconsciouses telling her things.We discover, through Elizabeth and Christina's letters, that Elizabeth is a keen long-distance runner, and that her perents are divorced, and that she likes her mother much better. Christina is being faced with problems such as sex, and how to deal with her family. We also get to read the notes that Elizabeth's mother leaves for her in the morning. Celia, it is revealed, has run away to join a circus, and is sewing up holes in the tent cover. Elizabeth goes, along with a boy called Saxon Walker in her class, to 'rescue' Celia from the circus. along the way she develops feelings for Saxon, who is also a runner. She confides this to Christina. She has also been getting anonymous notes from a boy on the bus, who turns out to be one of Christina's best friends. When they get back, Celia and Saxon become a couple, shutting Elizabeth out. Celia and Saxon's relationship intensifies to the point where they make a suicide pact, declaring a desire for their love to remain pure and untainted by the world. Christina shows herself to be a lovely friend who supports Elizabeth and comforts her, completely ignoring the problems she is having in her own life, such as a condom breaking while having sex for the second time. In the end everything sorts itself out and Elizabeth stops listening to the subconsciouses which are so good at pointing out her faults. She also starts going out with the anonymous boy. Christina becomes her new best friend.

Awards and nominations

Winner in 2001 of the Ethel Turner prize