Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

I was sent this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

'They think I hurt someone.

But I didn't. You hear?

Coz people are gonna be telling you

all kinds of lies.

I need you to know the truth.'

From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?.

Image Courtesy of Readaraptor

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

September 7th 2017 by Bloomsbury Childrens

400 Pages

Sarah Crossan is a professional on the quick read. The lyrical poetry of her fiction is unlike any other author I have read, and these books are perfect for getting out a book hangover. Unlike her usual novels, which are centrally focused in her home country of England, Crossan takes us over to the colonies this time - to take on the American Justice System.

As an English-woman, I have very little knowledge of the American Justice System other than what I've read on Buzzfeed or Sky News stories on Donald Trump. Crossan takes me into the world of the American small town - an idea romanticised in film and television. In Moonrise, it's a much more depressing place, in fact, everywhere is because Joseph Moon is preparing to watch his brother die.

Edward Moon was coerced into signing a confession of homicide of a police officer at the age of seventeen. Our story follows years after, when the legally bound Edward is to be executed in Kirkland, Texas. Joseph Moon, his younger brother has taken the long journey across the Atlantic to be at his brother's side, and to make one final push for his brother's life.

Joseph is a talented young man, with a future ahead of him, yet he finds himself lingering in Kirkland - unable to face visiting his brother and fixing cars for food. Despite the distance that grew between the brother's after his conviction, they share (with their sister Angela) a shared traumatic childhood. Their mother was an abusive alcoholic, and once she disappeared when Edward was convicted, and abusive aunt took her place.

The death penalty has been a hot topic for years. In Britain, we do not have it. As far as we are concerned as a society - the death penalty appears like an eye for an eye sort of deal. I struggle to understand what it must be like on death row, deserved or not. Edward's hope that something will save him is tragic, whether he is guilty or not.

Joseph is so young too. He's barely out of school and having to take on such a huge responsibility. He fills out the narrative with memories and flashback that give such a sense of all the characters it is hard to imagine that they aren't all living, breathing people. The entire book is exquisite, poignant and it reads like breathing.

Crossan has hit it out of the park again, I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.