BookSoc Carnegie Shadower's Medal voting

Mrs Cummings

This week BookSoc met and voted for the Shadower’s Award. This involved a lot of impassioned discussion, a fair amount of agreeing to disagree, but we got there in the end. In time-honoured St Paul’s style, we voted for the book we think should win (the Shadower’s Award) and for the book we think will win. The last had us looking up the judges’ biographies and trying to second-guess their interests and biases.

The Shadower’s Award – St Paul’s vote goes to… 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys.  This moving novel tells the story of the Christian who is forced to choose between betraying his family and risking everything during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Aimed at an older reader this book really highlights the hardships of the dictatorship. You can read our review of it here.

 
The scores were…

• I Must Betray You  49
• The Eternal Return of Klara Hart 38
• The Blue Book of Nebo 38
• The Light in Everything 23
• When Shadows Fall 15

The book we think will win was much closer with The Light in Everything and I Must Betray You getting the same score. 

After a run-off between the two books, The Light in Everything just nudged ahead (by 2 votes).  

The Light in Everything is a book about blended families and about learning to trust again. Aimed at a younger reader it is nonetheless a good read for all ages.

 
The announcement of both the Shadower’s Award and the Carnegie Medal for Writing is on the 21st June. We’ll be hoping the right book wins!