GoodReads:
Born in wolf light, the magical dusk, in Mongolia, Ghana and Cornwall, Zula, Adoma and Linet are custodians of the sacred sites of their homelands. Yaba’s debut novel A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars was shortlisted for the 2018 Branford Boase Award and nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal.
When copper miners plunder Zula’s desert home in Gobi Altai, and Adoma’s forest and river are polluted by gold prospectors, it is only a matter of time before the lake Linet guards with her life is also in jeopardy. How far will Zula, Adoma and Linet go to defend the well-being of their homes? And when all else fails, will they have the courage to summon the ancient power of their order, to make the landscape speak in a way that everyone will hear?
Rich in elemental magic, myth and the mysterious magical dusk, Wolf Light is Yaba Badoe’s defiant call to protect our environment, to conserve our heritage and to hear the ancient power that connects us.
My Review
First off…let’s just take a moment to admire this gorgeous cover. If you want to see it in better detail, hop over to my bookstagram. [If you read this right after I publish it, it’s not up yet, but you’ll see on the sidebar if it is later on lol]
This is just a pretty book in general but now that we’ve focused on the outside and ‘ooohed and aaahed’ let’s focus on the inside.
This is a work of lyrical and magical prose, it’s done in the sort of style that was reminiscent of ‘classical’ children’s tales and I always appreciate it when a book does that. Also though that means that it may not be easy for all younger [12ish] readers to be able to grasp this novel, but every kid is different so, it’s not a slam on the book saying it’s too old fashioned for all 12-year-olds, just that this may not be for every reader around that age. Depends on your spawn.
I for one found this an absolute delight to read, the pacing is done a bit differently, as this is a book for younger YA readers, you don’t want to overload on page numbers so Badoe does a good job on condensing it. But you can’t help but want more! [This is not necessarily a problem, we’ll just hope Badoe keeps churning out awesome books lol] I was also disappointed that the ending happened at all lol, I mean, I could have read another 100 pages at least, I loved when they took action together towards the end.
The three girls are VASTLY different and I LOVE that, we have not only different origins in geography but different home lives/family setups and completely different personalities. Their respective ‘inner animals’ are another way to show just how different these girls are and I loved all three for not changing who they are to fit in better with each other. Their differences complemented one another.
The elemental magic is not the forefront of this story, but it does play an important part, I would say this is more about the girls themselves and our beloved planet earth.
Beautiful ideas, beautiful message, wrapped in a beautiful package.
Thank you so much to Zephyr books for a copy of this in exchange for my honest review as part of the tour.
Also keep an eye out for her other novel, A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars.
About the Author
Yaba Badoeis an award-winning Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker and writer. A graduate of King’s College Cambridge, she was a civil servant in Ghana before becoming a general trainee with the BBC. She has taught in Spain and Jamaica and worked as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. Her short stories have been published in Critical Quarterly, African Love Stories, an anthology edited by Ama Ata Aidoo, and Daughters of Africa.
In 2014 Yaba was nominatedfor the Distinguished Woman of African Cinema award.She travels frequently to chair film conventions and lecture.Her most recent documentary wasThe Art ofAma Ata Aidoo.Her debut novel,A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars, publishedby Zephyr, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2018 and has been nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal. Yaba lives in Balham, London with her husband Colin Izod.
The Rest of the Tour
The Caffeinated Reader 