Zofia and Tom are opposites: Zofia is bold, brave and loud while Tom is quiet and fearful. Zofia is training herself to withstand the cold seawater and swim to a rocky outcrop the locals call ‘Fiji’ while Tom makes paper cranes and sleeps with the lights on to drive out the dark. But when Zofia’s dad and Tom’s mum move in together, they must learn to get along, especially because their parents are also expecting a baby together.
Zofia is furiously angry that Tom and his mum have pushed their way into her life, she can’t understand why Tom is so timid and afraid, and she’s worried that her anger will drive her dad away and she will be left out of his cosy new family. Tom just wants his mum to be happy, after the difficult times that they’ve had, but he can’t quite trust that the new man in her life won’t be aggressive and violent like his dad. But as Zofia and Tom begin to understand one another they realise that perhaps they have more in common than they know, and perhaps they can find a way to be a family.
The story is told from both Tom and Zofia’s perspectives in alternating mini-chapters that make it impossible to put the book down and I finished it within an afternoon. Like ‘October, October’, the book cover is a stunning work of art in its own right—created by illustrator, Sydney Smith. (I have the cover art of ‘October, October’ on a tote bag—perhaps I’ll have to expand my collection.)
‘The Light in Everything’ is a quiet story, but it is exquisitely written, full of big emotions, vivid descriptions and authentic, heartrending moments. The protagonists are only 11, but I would highly recommend this book for KS3 as well as KS2 readers.
Swimming in Books 