I think this is my favourite Stewart Foster book yet- so powerfully and sensitively written
A moving, emotional and thought provoking story of young Sophie whose music loving life is turned upside down when her entire world turns silent as she loses all her hearing completely overnight.
I think this is my favourite Stewart Foster book yet- so powerfully and sensitively written. Foster is so skilled at building up the details of the scenarios and challenges Sophie faces on a daily basis. We learn quickly that Sophie is driven and passionate about playing her guitar, working on music with her friends and that she is aiming high and has dreams. The reader is quickly drawn in to feeling a strong empathy with her and how frustrating and exhausting her problems with her developing hearing issues are becoming and then with the simplest yet most effective sentences , the author takes the tension and heart break up so skillfully:
“The light switch in the hall didn’t click.
The front door didn’t bang.
The car doors didn’t slam.”
Connecting Sophie with another character who is deaf creates an inspiring, warm and encouraging support for her to navigate her new experiences and feel less alone . Stewart Foster is sensitive and realistic with his depictions of both characters – although both are deaf and they share many insights and understandings , their experiences are also very individual and unique and I feel like this is so important – although this is a story about a main character becoming deaf , this is a story exploring the vunerability, resilience and strengths of all of the characters portrayed .
Sophie’s experiences affect and alter her relationships with family and friends and the journey she takes to regain her confidence and actually create a new path for herself ,involves all the highs and lows of emotion that all the characters experience.
It is a fantastic book and the notes by Stewart Foster at the end really let the reader have an insight into just how important this book must be for him. I think this personal element really shows in how much Sophie herself was a wonderfully written, relatable and very real character and her experiences so intricately and compelling shared with us. Can’t wait to add this to the bookshelves in school in September.