It's 1960 and Laura is a fourteen year old girl who is just trying to be a normal teenager despite her overprotective mother. Naive and unprepared for the adult world but desperate to prove that she's no longer a little girl, Laura ends up falling pregnant during a confusing sexual encounter with an older boy. Her parents are horrified and send her away to Heathcote House, a special home for young mothers, so she can have her child in secret and then have them adopted. Laura has other ideas and is determined to keep her daughter no matter what anyone else might say.
This book provide examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Laura's mother slaps her a couple of times, even if she's immediately apologetic about it.
- Age-Gap Romance: While less of a romance and more of a brief sexual encounter, Laura is only fourteen when she has sex with the seventeen year old Leon. She also has a crush on Daniel, who is around the same age.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted with Little Richard, who is a sweet and cheerful kid who tries to cheer his older siblings up when they're unhappy. Nina does seem to find him annoying at times, while Laura wishes that she was her little brother.
- Author Avatar: Jacqueline Wilson was around the same age as Laura in 1960 and there are several similarities between her mother and Laura's, including her obsession with the class system and working similar hours. She even made sure to buy Wilson a pair of 'fancy upswept glasses' instead of the NHS ones.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Laura doesn't know what she wants out of life, but she would like to be famous enough to be featured in newspapers. She is, but only because she became pregnant and gave birth at just fourteen years old.
- Berserk Button:
- Laura is furious that she and the other young mothers are forced to give up their children for adoption and becomes angry every time it's mentioned.
- Don't bring up aunt Susannah around Laura's mother; she even storms angrily out of a shop without paying when they have a chance encounter.
- Big Sister Instinct:
- Both Belinda and Jeannie take the younger Laura under their wing during her stay at Heathcote House.
- Laura herself is naturally good with children; Nina's younger brother Little Richard even states he wishes she was his sister instead at one point and Moira quickly grows attached to Laura and even continues to come and see her and her daughter after she's moved in with her aunt.
- Big Sister Worship: Moira looks up to and admires Laura a great deal, even stating how much she looks up and not caring that she became pregnant at a young age out of wedlock, while having also always been desperate to see her and be around her, even when she was apparently sick, and says in her letters how much she misses her while also having begged Nina and Daniel to take her with them to Heathcote House to visit Laura.
- Nina's little brother Richard admires Laura a lot too, even stating openly how much he likes her and wishes she was his sister instead of Nina, while constantly showing off his latest achievements to her as well, to the point Laura thinks he's got a Precocious Crush on her.
- Bilingual Bonus: It's heavily implied that Leon asks for permission to have sex with Laura, but she misunderstands it as him asking if they can cuddle as she barely understands French.
- Bittersweet Ending: Laura gets to keep Kathy and moves in with her aunt Susan but she has a strained relationship with her parents, who much prefer the children she has with her husband and she never sees Nina or Daniel ever again. Laura herself also notes that while she got a happy ending, the other girls at Heathcote House didn't because they had to give up their babies with no chance of ever being reunited with them.
- Break the Cutie:
- Poor Laura ends up being coerced into having sex when she has no idea what's actually going on and her parents are furious on finding out that she's pregnant and send her away to Heathcote House. They don't visit her and then say that she can only come home if she gives her daughter up for adoption. Laura just wants to keep Kathy while almost everyone around her is demanding that she gives her up.
- Belinda is a sweet girl who dreams of raising her son with her boyfriend in the bar that her father owns but reality hits her hard when she learns her boyfriend hasn't been faithful to her and then she's forced into giving her son up for adoption.
- Broken Pedestal: A mild example but Laura gets over her blind worship of Nina's family when she sees that they're just ordinary people, helped in part when Dr Bertram (male) reacts coldly towards her on finding out she's pregnant. This includes her crush on Daniel.
- Cardiovascular Love: The title mentions "Love" and the cover features some jagged, ripped-down-the-middle Heart Symbols.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Laura has sex that's so brief she's not even sure that anything happened and still falls pregnant. It's also her first time being with a boy ever.
- Cool Aunt: Laura's aunt Susannah definitely qualifies as this. She works in a bookstore in Wales and sends Laura black beatnik clothes for Christmas (considered very cool for the era). She also takes Laura and her baby in, since her parents won't let her come home unless she gives the baby up.
- Cool Teacher: Mrs Chambers, the English teacher at Heathcote House. She's one of the only adults that's sympathetic towards the teenage mothers and actively stands up for Laura when she gets her books taken off her for being too explicit (even saying Miss Andrews must be mad to object to a teenage girl reading Katherine Mansfield).
- Cosmetic Catastrophe: Laura puts on mascara and rouge when going to the movies with Nina and Daniel, and initially struggles with making it look right. Nina then bluntly points out that it's weird she put on make up when they'll be sat in the dark.
- Darkest Hour: Laura has to meet her social worker who wants her to give up Kathy for adoption and she's running out of time to find a way where she can keep Kathy and be able to raise her safely. Then aunt Susannah shows up to save the day.
- Defrosting Ice Queen:
- Jeannie is harsh towards Laura at first but rapidly warms up to her when they get to know one another better.
- Marilyn starts out being quite stern and under Miss Andrews thumb, but she does grow to like Laura and the other girls in her care, and eventually tearfully agrees that Laura should be allowed to keep her baby.
- Distant Finale: An elderly Laura narrates the epilogue. She now has grandchildren and is glad that the stigma around teenage pregnancy has changed so that young mothers are supported and that adopted children are able to get in contact with their birth mothers if they want to.
- Driven to Suicide: Apparently the windows are nailed shut at Heathcote House because some young mothers-to-be become suicidal.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Happens quite often at Heathcote House whenever a girl's water breaks during the night. It happens to Jeannie and Laura worries that Sarah will get her sheets damp when she sits on them after starting labour.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Belinda is blonde and she's one of the most popular girls at Heathcote House. Laura even notes that everyone takes time to say goodbye to her and her baby.
- Fiery Redhead: Averted with both Moira, who is a sweet tempered girl from an entire family of redheads and with Sarah, who is somewhat smug and pious but never once loses her temper.
- G-Rated Sex: Nothing really seems to happen between Laura and Leon; she mentions him pulling down her clothes and touching her but she pushes him away before he can seemingly do anything. However Leon does seem to sigh in a way that suggests he managed to ejaculate and Laura later remembers more details about the encounter.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Laura does try to abort her child by taking over the counter medication but it doesn't work, and part of her is grateful that it didn't. Laura's mother later brings up the idea of abortion to Dr Betram but he bluntly tells her that it would be illegal at the stage Laura's at.
- Abortion at any stage was illegal in the UK at the time this story takes place.
- Growing Up Sucks: Laura doesn't want to grow up and even plays with the much younger Moira in an attempt to cling onto her childhood.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Belinda is known for her blond hair and is one of the sweetest people Laura has ever met.
- Heel Realization:
- Nina stops ignoring Laura when she hears her crying on the toilet and immediately tries to help her.
- Laura's mother decides to travel with her to Heathcote House despite how angry she is with her because she realises just how young and frightened Laura is in that moment.
- Innocent Inaccurate: Laura's understanding, or lack of it, about sex is why she doesn't even realise she's had it with Leon. Although there may be some denial as Laura does understand the signs of being pregnant before she's officially diagnosed.
- Jailbait Taboo: The pastor who sexually abuses and eventually impregnates Sarah blames her for tempting him. She's just fifteen years old. Worse, she believes him and tells Laura that he's a wonderful man and his actions are all her fault.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nina falls out with Laura over the smallest slight and isn't above playing emotional mindgames with her. But she's also an incredibly loyal friend and buys Laura things without expecting anything in return. She also keeps Laura's secret about being pregnant and later visits her and Heathcote House when no-one else ever has.
- Mama Bear: Aunt Susannah enters Heathcote House with all the documents she needs to prove that she can take care of Laura and Kathy and refuses to take no for an answer.
- Meaningful Name:
- Laura is named after her older sister, who died shortly after being born. Laura's older brother also died before he could leave the hospital, and he was named William, after their father.
- Laura calls her daughter Kathleen, after her mother. She does this to try and encourage her mother to fall in love with her granddaughter so Laura can return home and keep her, but it doesn't work. Laura does regret choosing her daughter's name but settles for calling her Kathy.
- Jeannie names her daughter Belinda Laura, after her two best friends at Heathcote House.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Laura's mother immediately apologises after slapping her.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Nina can be a bitch, especially when she doesn't get her own way, but she's also overwhelmingly nice to Laura when she truly needs her. She also has a mild version of a Beta Bitch in the form of Patsy.
- Parents as People: Laura's mother is incredibly overprotective over Laura and obsessed with keeping a good image but she's also lost two previous children and works hard to give Laura the opportunities that she never had. Laura's father reacts very badly to her falling pregnant at such a young age but she's his little girl and he just can't understand how she got into that situation in the first place. They both come across as being unsupportive but their reaction is due in part to the stigma of underage mothers at the time.
- Parental Favouritism: An older Laura in the Distant Finale admits that, while she still very much loves her two other children that she had with her husband later on, she secretly favours Kathy over them, which Kathy seems to know too.
- Potty Failure: Many of the pregnant girls end up accidentally wetting themselves when they're further along in their pregnancy and can't get to the bathroom in time.
- Shipper on Deck: While she's initially put out by the idea, Nina comes around to the idea of Laura getting together with her brother Daniel.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Laura's mother Kathleen and her much younger sister Susannah are polar opposites which appears to be why their relationship is so strained, with Laura's mother being very traditional and having a negative attitude towards anything seen as too "modern" or non-traditional, such as fashion, styles, lifestyles etc, which is why she dislikes Susannah so much, because unlike her she is very modern and trendy in every way, and while realising it isn't ideal, Susannah does not at all condemn Laura for having a baby so young out of wedlock.
- Skipping School: Laura skips her lessons at Heathcote House a few times, though she notes that the teachers tend to turn a blind eye to it if one of the girls and her baby are leaving that day.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Leon is barely present throughout the story but is the one who got Laura pregnant.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Leon and Daniel are described as being this way, Laura seems to have a type.
- Teen Pregnancy:
- Laura is only fourteen years old when she falls pregnant.
- Heathcote House is a home for pregnant teenagers, although Laura is the youngest at fourteen; the others vary from fifteen to seventeen.
- It's implied that Aunt Susannah fell pregnant at a young age but ended up losing her child.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Laura's father sends her a letter that scolds her for getting upset that they didn't come to visit her; Heathcote House is a long way from home and they just don't have the money to travel that far.
