SuitabookLet the Light In
Jenny Downham and Louis Hill
- Reading
- A shared read could pause around Leah’s relationship and Charlie’s difficulty expressing feelings. Ask what support looks like, while allowing the reader to decide how convincing or hopeful the characters’ journeys feel.
- Themes
- Secrecy, communication and community: Characters withhold truths because of shame and a wish to protect themselves or others; the story also highlights neighbours, friends and teachers noticing people around them. The authors clearly value communication and reaching out, while also using secrets to create narrative tension.
- Mental health, grief and creative expression: Charlie finds it difficult to share his feelings and uses art as comfort while processing grief; the story also depicts ways the characters find joy. The book presents this favourably.
- A complicated older-person relationship: Seventeen-year-old Leah is in love with someone older and technically unavailable; different sides of the affair and strong opinions about it are included. The authors aim for honest engagement with a complicated subject and say the novel lets readers consider the characters’ choices rather than presenting only one side.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the reader would welcome a story involving hidden grief, a complicated relationship with an older unavailable person, anxiety, low self-esteem, poverty and family secrets.