Reviewed by Chris J Kenworthy, for Armadillo magazine.
‘When Shadows Fall,’ by Sita Brahmachari, is a coming-of-age story that follows Kai and his friends and family through a tale of friendship, grief and mental illness.
Friends Kai, Orla and Zak grow up together and spend their days on a small green patch of wilderness between their homes in a sprawling grey city. Music, laughter and friendship binds them together, but when Kai’s family suffers a huge loss, all of their dreams for the future are thrown into disarray.
‘When Shadows Fall‘ is a beautifully written novel that is part narrative, part free-verse, which explores the events leading up to, during and after Kai’s emotional breakdown through the eyes of Kai, Orla, Zak and classmate Om.
Innocent, poetic prose at the start of the novel foreshadows the unapologetic rawness of grief that overcomes Kai later in the story. Happy youth turns to helplessness as grief also tears his family apart, which leads Kai on a different path as he’s excluded from school and retreats from his friends and family.
In her novel, Brahmachari portrays how the exuberance of youth can quickly and violently snowball into feelings of darkness, loneliness and emptiness. It is rare for a Young Adult novel to deal with the subject matter of grief, death and mental illness in such a sensitive but rounded manner, but her words are complimented by Natalie Sirett’s significantly poignant illustrations – some in the corners of pages, and some over double-page spreads – which accurately depict the mood and feelings of the characters.
‘When Shadows Fall‘ holds back no sorrow, and is a strong read not just for Young Adult readers but possibly also for older readers as well. It is a love song to growing up on a council estate, and the friendships formed through adversity and bonds of music and art, but it is also a heartbreaking and poignant novel with words that pack a hefty emotional punch on every page. Brahmachari carefully shows how unconditional love can help someone through their emotional turmoil. Kai’s friends prove that through darkness, there’s hope – an important moralistic lesson for the readers of this novel.
Stowmarket Reporter 