Shadows

by Tim Bowler

"Shadows" is a gritty, uncompromising book and also, unusually, a boy's love story. It focuses on Jamie, a fifteen-year-old squash prodigy and his relationship with his overbearing father, who is determined that his son will achieve the success he himself never enjoyed and drives the boy to a point almost beyond endurance. Then Jamie finds a girl hiding in his shed, and in helping her to escape from the danger that is pursuing her, he is at last able to deal with his own problems. He realises that he can't run away for ever. He has to come out of the shadows and face up to his father, whatever the cost. * Winner of the Angus Book Prize and the Lancashire Children's Book Award. * Major prize-winning Tim Bowler won the Carnegie Medal with "River Boy". * Strong themes of overcoming fears, helping others, and standing up for what you believe. * New cover treatment to match Tim Bowler's wonderful new novel, "Storm Catchers". * Author was born and brought up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and now lives in Totnes, Devon

Genres: Young Adult

Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Tim Bowler is one of the UK’s most compelling and original writers for teenagers. He was born in Leigh-on-Sea and after studying Swedish at University he worked in forestry, the timber trade, teaching and translating before becoming a full-time writer. He lives with his wife in a small village in Devon and his workroom is an old stone outhouse known to friends as ‘Tim’s Bolthole’.

Tim has written twenty books and won fifteen awards, including the prestigious Carnegie Medal for River Boy. His most recent novel is the gripping Bloodchild and his provocative Blade series is being hailed as a groundbreaking work of fiction. He has been described by the Sunday Telegraph as ‘the master of the psychological thriller’ and by the Independent as ‘one of the truly individual voices in British teenage fiction’.

Reviews

[Aleksandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning I found it quite plain but then more action got involved. Two lines made me gasp the most though:
" 'Danny 's big thing has always been squash. ' "
&
" 'Your mother's dead, Jamie.' " 😤

[Felicity Rendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read and a good YA book. The writing is enjoyable, however plot may seem a bit unbelievable at times. I think younger people (13-16) would enjoy. However, some important subjects are breached in this novel, some well elaborated, some unfortunately a bit rushed.

[Mike Taverner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A powerful tale

[Wendelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shadows is the story of a boy who has family issues. Issues he isn't strong enough to confront and resolve on his own.

But when he meets a homeless girl who might have even bigger problems, he has a chance to learn a thing or 2 on dealing with problems...

Shadows captivated my 13 year old twins. Tim Bowler's writing is tense, fast paced and gripping. So this book is never less than a good thriller aimed at teenagers. The author doesn't shy away from difficult situations either, which is to be commended.

The twins were so enthralled with it that I had to read it too and enjoyed it a lot. It's lean. It might lack some of the complexity you would expect from adult novels. But it really means the story stays tense and is not artifically fattened with useless prose.

This book is easy to recommend.

[Yaseen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book in a charity shop a few months ago because books for 3 for a £1 or 50p, and it had an interesting cover, so yes I judged a book by its cover lol.

I've only just finished it now, over 4 months later, a combination of me being a bit busy back then and other books came into view afterwards. A fairly interesting story but not used to the dialogue in it as I mostly read Crime and Fantasy Novels. Just the ending picked it up for me, ending on a dark note.

[Neill Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jamie is a good squash player but lacks the anger and aggression to reach the top of his game. He also sees his place in the sport as contributing to the control his brutal father has over him. When a young street person drifts into his life he helps her and finds a focus for his life and a reason to use his new found aggression.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the boy who has family problem. Jamie is good player of squash, but his father gives Jamie too much of pressure to become campion like his father in the past. When the main character Jamie meet homeless girl who also has issue about family he help her to solve the problem. The interesting part was that after he met and helped homeless girl he also solved his own problem.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in school as part of a student-voted book award competition. This wasn't my favourite book in the competition, although it won. I remember not liking it very much, but a can't really remember enough about it to know why. It's clearly not a book that sticks with you.

[Rea · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books. It made a big impact on me when I read it as a young teen.

[Huy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hai đứa trẻ đấu tranh với những vấn đề của riêng mình,hai con người cô đơn ấy gặp nhau để rồi tìm thấy sức mạnh tiềm ẩn của bản thân. Một đề tài dù không mới nhưng được xử lý khá khéo léo và hấp dẫn.

[Evelien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read twice, and still good ...

[Muneeza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not want to return this book back to the librarian.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STAR read, upped to 5 STARS because it's stuck with me ever since I first read it aged 12, and on my 3rd reread it is still haunting (especially with the Olympics looming)

[Nell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book a tier above the usual early-teen bildungsroman.