{"id":25518,"date":"2023-03-04T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T23:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingtime.com.au\/?p=25518"},"modified":"2023-02-26T14:23:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T04:23:33","slug":"the-worlds-we-leave-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readingtime.com.au\/the-worlds-we-leave-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worlds We Leave Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"

A.F Harrold (text) & Levi Pinfold (illustrator), The Worlds We Leave Behind<\/em><\/a>, Bloomsbury Children\u2019s Books, August 2022, 272 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781526623881\"\"<\/a>Although neither of them would have said it, they loved one another, like brothers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Have you ever met an acorn that could change your life?<\/p>\n

For Tommo and Hex, it isn\u2019t as magical as it sounds. Best friends since birth\u2014they\u2019re inseparable. Hex is there when Tommo\u2019s Mum leaves, and his Dad becomes unrecognisable; Tommo understands Hex, even when Hex doesn\u2019t understand himself. Until one day there\u2019s an accident in the woods, and everything changes.<\/p>\n

Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman\u2019s The Ocean at the End of the Lane<\/em><\/a>, and Max Porter\u2019s Grief is the Thing With Feathers<\/em><\/a>, The Worlds We Leave Behind<\/em> is an eerie look at the nature of friendship, betrayal, and the chaos of revenge.<\/p>\n

The narrative follows each of the boys in the aftermath of the accident that shakes their friendship. Hex is humiliated and looking for revenge. He finds it in the form of a cottage in the woods\u2014housing an old woman and her dog, who promises to snip his problems out of existence. What seems like a painless solution sparks a series of events no one can come back from.<\/p>\n

Hex and Tommo are beautifully complex characters for their age:<\/p>\n

Lying in bed he\u2019d felt like two people: one who did stuff and one who watched, and neither of them understood the other.<\/em><\/p>\n

The book seamlessly navigates their internal struggles at the same time as the bigger catastrophes around them. The language is poetic yet accessible, and the days of the week structure helps to build suspense.<\/p>\n

Pinfold\u2019s dark and mysterious illustrations complement the magical realism of the book, always arriving at the perfect moment. They invite readers to be drawn into the horror and magic of the seemingly ordinary.<\/p>\n

Overall, an engaging and spine-tingling exploration of the insidiousness of shame, and the power of friendship.<\/p>\n

Recommended for ages 11 years and up.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Sarah Stivens<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A.F Harrold (text) & Levi Pinfold (illustrator), The Worlds We Leave Behind, Bloomsbury Children\u2019s Books, August 2022, 272 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781526623881Although neither of them would have said it, they loved one another, like brothers. Have you ever met an acorn that could change your life? For Tommo and Hex, it isn\u2019t as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1401,2,6],"tags":[21,983,1193,1747,64,613,27],"yoast_head":"\nThe Worlds We Leave Behind - Reading Time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/readingtime.com.au\/the-worlds-we-leave-behind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Worlds We Leave Behind - Reading Time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A.F Harrold (text) & Levi Pinfold (illustrator), The Worlds We Leave Behind, Bloomsbury Children\u2019s Books, August 2022, 272 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781526623881Although neither of them would have said it, they loved one another, like brothers. 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