And the Stars Were Burning Brightly

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The last time Nathan spoke with Al it was to argue. Thereafter, he cut his call when Al called begging for help. After all, he was on the swings, messing about Kyle. Sometimes Al was just too much hard work, and Nate needed to draw breath. Then he started telling me that there was no point in having stars on the ceiling if they didn't look like the real thing, and he kept going on about all these names. Saying how there was some star named after this guy called Ryan, and how everything was shaped like his belt. The characterisation in here was very jumpy and I didn’t see much development taking place at all. It has a dual perspective but it was really difficult to tell the two voices apart, they were essentially the same voice. Within these two voices, we also get an unnecessary romance forming between them which just felt really odd given the circumstances the characters find themselves in and their mutual relationships. I just felt very weird about all of it and couldn’t really understand what was motivating the characters at all to act the way they were. The romance as well came out of absolutely nowhere and felt so abrupt I didn’t even get chance to process it. Nate has lost his brother to suicide- through the grief, anger and self blame he starts to dig into Al’s life in the hope of finding answers. Through this quest he meets Megan, mourning not only loss of life but the loss of chances- together, maybe, they’ll find a way to move on. It’s been three days since Al killed himself. Three days since Nathan found his older brother’s body. Three days since he hid Al’s drawing with its desperate scribbled note: ‘Help me.’ Nate is certain there has to be more to his brother’s suicide than meets the eye, and he’s determined to get to the bottom of it. My Thoughts

I listen to the sound of Phoebe's breathing till she falls asleep, her head resting on my arm. I close my eyes and try not to think of Al, or how I'd let him down.The book is about 15 year old Nathan whose 17 year old brother Al took his own life. Al was going places, he was a talented artist who was soon to be studying at Cambridge University. Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan decides to retrace Al’s footsteps. As he does, he meets Megan, Al's former classmate, who is as determined as Nathan to keep Al's memory alive. You really shine a light on some of the pressures facing young people today, particularly bullying and the power of social media. What inspired you to write about this? Described as ‘An outstanding and compassionate debut’ by Patrice Lawrence, Danielle Jawando’s YA novel And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is an extraordinary novel about loss, love and the power of speaking up when all you want to do is shut down. In this interview, Danielle tells us about the inspiration behind her book, and the importance of writing about this difficult subject matter.

Our main focus is Nathan, the younger brother of Al. Al was a straight A-grade student who killed himself. Nathan found him. Nathan is also having to come to terms with the guilt he feels over ignoring a call from his brother on the night he hung himself.And The Stars Were Burning Brightly cannot be described in just a few words, when the amount of emotions you feel are endless. This book is raw, heartbreaking, infuriating, bright, powerful and so many more words that I cannot form right now.