Outwalkers by Fiona Shaw

Book of the Week: 15 April 2018

Outwalkers are the opposite of ‘bona fides’ and have four main rules:
1. No technology
2. Be outside
3. Be hidden
4. Obedience to the gang

If you are a bona fide citizen of England you live by the Coalition government’s rules. Everyone has a chip implanted at birth and the country is a police state with ‘hubbers’ enforcing the law. Food banks are common, there is a wall between England and Scotland and travel is for a small number of the rich and government officials. Jake is an orphan, therefore his fate was to be educated in an academy, a place run more like a prison than a school. He manages to escape because he is worried about his beloved dog, Jet, who is being cared for by neighbours. Whilst on the run he teams up unwillingly with a gang of outwalkers: Poacher, Swift, Martha, Cass, Davie and Ollie and they set out to walk to Scotland and freedom.

The plot is packed with incident and there are some extremely tense set pieces, mostly involving climbing.  Alongside the tension and excitement is the story of Jake’s grief, longing for home and his parents, and love for his faithful dog.

If you enjoyed The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness this is definitely a book to try.

 

The Warwickshire Book Award 2018

The final week of last term saw us attend the Warwickshire Book Award. There were some excellent books on the shortlist: The Hypnotist by Laurence Anholt, Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean, Lie Kill Walk Away by Matt Dickinson, A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell, 928 Miles From Home by Kim Slater and The Haunting of Jessop Rise by Danny Weston.

These are all available to borrow from the Library.

The winning author was Matt Dickinson with Lie Kill Walk Away which was Book of the Week back in February.