We Own The Sky by Luke Allnutt

It's my stop on the your for this astonishing, assured debut novel by Luke Allnutt. It's pretty special. Many thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me on the tour and to Trapeze for providing my review copy.

The Blurb:

How far would you go to save the one you love?

"Anyone who wishes David Nicholls would write faster needs to grab this with both hands." Jill Mansell

An emotional page-turner with a heart-pounding dilemma. Fans of Jodi Picoult, David Nicholls and Jojo Moyes will love We Own The Sky.

Anna and Rob were the perfect couple with their whole lives in front of them. When beautiful baby boy Jack came along, their world seemed complete.

But when tragedy strikes they are faced with an impossible choice. They have one chance to save their child, but at what cost?

"...a touching narrative of first love and fatherhood" The Sunday Times

We Own The Sky was published by Trapeze on 8th February 2018. You can purchase it from Waterstones, Amazon and other good bookshops.

My Review:

I knew from the outset that this would be a hard read as it features a couple dealing with their son's illness.

When my eldest son was born he had a condition that meant he had to stay in hospital for a while. We were reassured that it wasn't life threatening, and it absolutely wasn't, but the worry at the time was all consuming. I couldn't help but think back to that time when I was reading this.

Rob and Anna have the perfect relationship. They are so different that they really shouldn't work together, but they just do. They are madly in love and with the birth of Jack their little family is complete. But then Jack starts to feel a little unwell... and Rob and Anna have different reactions to the news of Jack's illness.

The story is told from Rob's viewpoint. We see his life now, but there are lovely flashbacks to the early days with Anna and beautiful memories of Jack when he was younger. It's clear that both parents loved their son very much.

Rob and Anna are great characters - they feel very real, possibly because the author has experienced serious illness in his family. I empathised with both of them, especially as a parent myself. But I really felt for Rob. We see him broken, tortured by some of the decisions he made. But that's not the end of the tale.

This is the story of a parent's love for their child. It's a story of difficult choices and decisions. It's a story of love, heartbreak, despair, redemption and hope. I cried, more than once, but I loved it and will remember it for a long time. It's incredibly moving and utterly beautiful.

The Author:

Luke Allnutt is a writer and journalist, originally from the UK but now based in Prague. He is the author of Unspoken, a Kindle Single about the death of his father. His debut novel, We Own The Sky is his debut novel.