I know that I have been a way for a little while, but today I am back letting you know all about the amazing When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari! When Shadows Fall focuses on Kai, Orla, Zak and Om throughout their teenage years up until A-Level results day. Covering loss, grief, friendship and community, When Shadows Fall is a book that I urge everyone to pick up. Here is the synopsis so you get a complete sense of what an amazing book this is.

Kai, Orla and Zak grew up together, their days spent on the patch of wilderness in between their homes, a small green space in a sprawling grey city. Music, laughter and friendship bind them together and they have big plans for their future – until Kai’s family suffers a huge loss.
Trying to cope with his own grief, as well as watching it tear his family apart, Kai is drawn into a new and more dangerous crowd, until his dreams for the future are a distant memory. Excluded from school and retreating from his loved ones, it seems as though his path is set, his story foretold. Orla, Zak and new classmate Om are determined to help him find his way back. But are they too late? 

As part of the launch of When Shadows Fall I was invited to an interview with Sita and her editor Mattie Whitehead within which Sita answered questions about her writing journey and what led her to write When Shadows Fall, which was extremely interesting to learn especially as When Shadows Fall has been 20 years in the making.

Also as part of the event I got to ask some questions about family and identity within young adult books, and here are all her brilliant answers.

How important do you think that it is that a Young Adults can see themselves in the books that they read?

“My ears have been tuned to what diversity means in all its glory and what people bring not as a negative, obviously people including myself and my family have experienced racism but not just as that. What I think what a lot of young people get from my work and when I meet them is that if you do speak English as a second language you do have a cultural history, … and that makes you uniquely able to bring that in storytelling and that is valuable.”

How influential do you think the people around us are on our identities, do you think identity is something that can be influenced?

“The thing about identity is so fluid and that’s another reason why I love working with teenagers and writing for teenagers … I think we try on things, in music we listen to different kinds of music, we try on different things, we like certain foods and we go towards them.” 

I really hope that my post today has inspired you to pick up When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari, and please do go and check out all of the amazing people as part of the blog tour. I also want to give a special thank you to Nina Douglas for arranging this tour and letting me be a part of it.