CHARLOTTE is the kind of heroine I’d have loved when I was young. She’s funny, obsessed with Jane Eyre, taken to fantasising about outfits and determined to find her mum a husband.

Kay Woodward has crafted a gem of a novel; like all the classics, it’s got misunderstandings, a girl who thinks she’ll never get the interest of a boy, mistaken identity and a dollop of farce.

The trouble and strife of being a teenage girl – fighting with your friends, waiting for HIM to text or email you back and the joys and perils of not being cool – is handled with aplomb.

Charlotte, the bookworm with the big nose, is a role model I’d have loved as a schoolgirl.

And there’s a happy ending.