Encounters
Binding: Paperback
Imprint: Andersen Press
Age 12+
Family Break-Up Romance & Relationships Stories Science Fiction, Personal & Social Issues: Bullying, Separation, Violence & Abuse Personal & Social Issues: Divorce
Zimbabwe, 1994. A group of children spot peculiar lights in the sky over the grounds of their school.
From this moment on, six young people's lives are changed forever.
Gary hides the anguish he feels now his mum's left, acting out in fury and hatred. Chloe has no words for the thing she fears most every day. Karl is the headmaster's son, now fallen from grace. Tendai knows he can never live up to his grieving father's ideals. And Sixpence watches all, knowing he'll never be like these other children. All of them have seen something they can't explain.
In amongst these tangled, tortured lives, comes a group of psychologists to verify the spookily similar claims of every witness. Their daughter, Holly, can tell there's more to it than aliens or mass hysteria – can she reveal the dark truths that haunt them?
Inspired by true accounts, this is the long-awaited new novel from Costa-award-winner Jason Wallace.
Creators
Jason Wallace is related to Tolkien and a descendant of one of the first International English cricketers, and also of the world-renowned Victorian circus owner "Lord" George Sanger. He was born in Cheltenham in 1969 but moved to London after his parents split up. Aged 12 his life was turned upside down when his mother remarried and the family emigrated to Zimbabwe. It was this experience in a tough boarding school during the aftermath of the war for independence that forms the foundation of his incredible first novel, Out of Shadows. And he did actually meet Robert Mugabe when he visited his school.
Jason is currently a web designer, living in South West London with his partner and son.
Reviews
Ingeniously constructed, and as transfixing as the sighting of a UFO
Sunday Times
A powerful, at times bleak and brutal, read for older teenagers
The Bookseller
A beautifully written and thought-provoking book about aliens whose lessons on human empathy reach as high as the heavens
Big Issue, Kids' Books of 2017
A demanding read with many rewards… this novel reflects an exploratory mind, uncompromising yet respectful towards his readers’ capacity for agile responses
Books for Keeps
A thought-provoking book which deals honestly with some important issues including child abuse, bullying and verbal abuse… it impresses on every young person the importance of speaking up, and on every adult, the need to listen and support
Carousel
A powerful, at times bleak and brutal, read for older teenagers
The Bookseller
Wonderful… every detail is essential to a plot which drives relentlessly to a shocking conclusion
Best New Children's Books Guide, produced by the Publishers' Association and published in the Guardian 2018
Magnetic, haunting, and richly rewarding.
Lovereading4Kids
Unique and outstanding
Shift Zine
Exquisite… An absorbing novel, absolutely packed full of emotion
Askews & Holts Library Services
Rewarding and very skilfully written story
Armadillo Magazine
A story of layers and discovery… full of ideas of abuse and trauma and inequality. It has left me thoughtful and wiser and glad that I gave it the time it deserved.
Rhino Reads blog
One of the most unique books I have ever read
for lovereading4Kids.co.uk
I quickly found myself becoming engrossed with the story…an extremely unique book.
for lovereading4Kids.co.uk
Fascinating and beautifully written
for lovereading4Kids.co.uk
Encounters is a brilliant book, packed with almost every emotion. I could never tell what was going to happen next and it always kept me guessing.
for lovereading4Kids.co.uk
