Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
September 22, 2021/in Fiction 14+ Secondary/Adult /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 250 September 2021
Reviewer: Val Randall
ISBN: 978-1911427155
Price: £8.99
Publisher: Everything with Words
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 14+ Secondary/Adult
Length: 374pp
Buy the Book

The Sound of Everything

Author: Rebecca Henry

Kadie Hunte is, by her own admission, a difficult character – but then she has every reason to be. She has lived in a succession of foster homes since her mother died and her father vanished from her life and she has learned that trust is a risky commodity, likely to bring with it a significant amount of betrayal. And so she acts, refusing to accept support or conciliation, destroying relationships before they can destroy her. She has her inviolate rules and to abandon them is to suffer and be destroyed.

Rebecca Henry has created a complex, explosive character and taken us to live inside her head. The intensity of the confrontations she immerses us in is ceaseless, the angry drip of a leaking tap, the wrench of a mundane exchange into a high velocity verbal weapon. Music – listened to and written – stops the barrage. All the things which her head refuses to let her feel seep into her raps and songs. Her other coping mechanism is Emerson, her knife, her route to self-harming.

Then her self-imposed isolation from all that could nurture her is put under severe strain as a result of a compassionate and caring foster mother, Charmaine, a group of boys at school who love her music and invite her into their clique in order to work with her and, finally, Dayan, who she finally accepts as a friend. Her path is still paved with difficulty – her behaviour marks her out and she is relentlessly and viciously bullied on social media, which Henry portrays with complete veracity. But when Dayan is beaten up she supports him and, in turn, when she is expelled for her desperate use of Emerson to escape her tormentors but forgiven by Charmaine she realises that it is time to take the first very tentative steps towards abandoning her internal emotional rules.

This is a keenly observed and high-octane narrative in which Henry engages both our sympathy and our frustrations with Kadie. At times the patois in which the characters converse is somewhat mystifying but it gives a further ring of authenticity to what is a compelling and thought-provoking literary debut.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2021-09-22 12:59:122021-09-22 12:59:12The Sound of Everything

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

The School Library Association Announces Honours Lists for 2025 Awards

July 14, 2025

Margaret McDonald and her editors Alice Swan and Ama Badu win the 2025 Branford Boase Award

July 9, 2025

‘The magic of poetry by heart’ Champions of the 2025 National Poetry Speaking Competition Announced

July 8, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
The Upper World In the Wild Light
Scroll to top