Where the Light Goes by Sara Barnard

A heart-wrenching exploration of grief, set in a landscape corrupted by fame and the scrutiny that comes from living in the shadow of a star.

"Lizzie Beck" is one quarter of British pop sensation The Jinks, who launched their career via a reality TV talent show and rose straight to fame – and in Lizzie’s case, infamy, for her tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend, stints in rehab and candid confessions about her mental health on Instagram.

To Emmy, though, she will always be her older sister, Beth, the person whose footsteps she intends to follow.

Except now she can’t. Because Beth, Emmy's beloved sister, has died by suicide.

Forced to face a world without the guiding light of her bright, brilliant big sister, Emmy must wrestle with the impact of private grief, public scrutiny and discover who she once was and who she will become, now that Beth is gone.

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Sara Barnard knows how to attack the jugular when she writes, and this book is no different. Raw, honest and difficult to get through in spots, it's a wonderful examination of truthful emotions.

Sara uses newspaper articles, twitter threads and other multimedia inserts to give us different points of view on the story. We've all seen what happens when someone famous dies, especially when they die in any kind of disgrace, and this story does not skimp on the pain there. We get to see a wide range of reactions, different ways of people dealing with Beth's death, and the wonderful thing is that none of them are villified or treated as wrong. They are all allowed to react in their own way, and sometimes people get exasperated with them, but they're never told that they're reacting in a 'wrong' way.

There are parts of this that are very difficult to get through, and I think readers may need to take a break as they read, but it's absolutely worth attempting. This would be a great book for school libraries and it provides a lot of starting off points for discussion and thought. Fantastic.

Where the Light Goes publishes on the 4th of May, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.