“When I went to find it [the toilet], someone was kneeling on the floor and sniffing the lid. I have no idea why anyone would want to smell the lid of a toilet (while someone else watched! Can you imagine!).”

Those are words you would expect, perhaps, from someone innocent; a child whose world is fluffy and perfect, an autistic boy, or an elderly person slightly out of touch with the ‘yoof of today’. Instead, not knowing whether to laugh or sympathise with her hopeless naivety, we find them spoken by Maureen, a middle aged mother and one of the four main characters in Nick Hornby’s book A Long Way Down.

Maureen is a quiet soul who admits to having had regular social contact with only her profoundly disabled son, who can’t communicate, for the past 20 years. Highly offended by swearing from the younger characters, well-to-do Maureen prefers function over fashion with her raincoat and sensible shoes.
 
Although she may not be a character teen readers will naturally identify with, her naivety, quietness and caring attitude wins her the most audience sympathy from the outset.