The Wall

By William Sutcliffe

Joshua is thirteen. He lives with his mother and stepfather in Amarias, an isolated town on top of a hill, where all the houses are brand new. At the edge of Amarias is a high wall, guarded by soldiers, which can only be crossed through a heavily fortified checkpoint. Joshua has been taught that beyond the concrete is a brutal and unforgiving enemy, and that The Wall is the only thing keeping him and his people safe.

One day, looking for a lost football, Joshua stumbles across a tunnel which leads towards this forbidden territory. He knows he won't get another opportunity to see what is beyond The Wall until he's old enough for military service, and the chance to crawl through and solve the mystery is too tempting to resist. He's heard plenty of stories about the other side, but nothing has prepared him for what he finds...

The Wall is a novel about a boy who undertakes a short journey to another world, to a place where everything he knows about loyalty, identity and justice is turned upside down. It is also a political fable that powerfully evokes the realities of life on the West Bank, telling the story of a Settler child who finds there are two sides to every story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Apr 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781408833940

William Sutcliffe

William Sutcliffe is the author of twelve novels, including the international bestseller Are You Experienced? and The Wall, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. He has written for adults, young adults and children, and has been translated into twenty-eight languages. His 2008 novel Whatever Makes You Happy is now a Netflix Original film starring Patricia Arquette, Felicity Huffman and Angela Bassett. It was released in August 2019 under the title Otherhood. His latest novel, The Gifted, The Talented and Me, was described by The Times as 'dangerously funny' and by the Guardian as 'refreshingly hilarious'.

Reviews for The Wall

[katherineb729 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for the Carnegie Awards. I really liked it and I thought the writing was great! The first few pages really grabbed my attention and Joshua was decscribed well. The pace of the book was steady, I felt it could have been a bit faster. The storyline followed through well and the ending was good, possibly a bit confusing. My interest never tailed off though.

[dubaireader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very powerful.I was hugely impressed by this well balanced book, aimed at Young Adults, and with a hard hitting message. In my opinion, it managed to show both sides of the Israeli, Palestinian situation, how each fears the other and suffers as a result. (Although it never actually mentions these countries by name).Joshua is a teenager, living in Amarias, with his mother and her new husband. His father died serving in the army, but Joshua never understood who he had been fighting against and his father made a point of never leaving the house in his uniform. Liev, Joshua's step-father, is a very different man, who has strong opinions about the threat posed by 'The Other Side'.When Joshua's football goes over a wall into a building site, he climbs over to retrieve it and stumbles upon a tunnel that stretches beyond the wall into an area that represents The West Bank of Palestine. Of course he can't resist investigating and what he sees and learns from this and subsequent visits, will change him forever.Not only does this book offer teenage readers a look at both sides, but the main character, Joshua, presents a good moral model, trying his very best to do what he feels is right, even when it is frightening, and even dangerous to do so. Unfortunately not all his actions have favourable outcomes and in this respect the story is very realistic. It reminded me very much of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, both were highly effective novels.I should mention the excellent narrator, Nicholas Camm, who did an excellent job of reading this novel. Highly recommended to all ages, but particularly effective for teenagers.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though described by the subtitle as a fable, this novel is clearly about the West Bank and the violent conflict Israeli settlements have brought to that region. Readers unfamiliar with the real-life Palestinian-Israeli conflict upon which the story is based are likely to take it for dystopian fiction, which seems at least appropriate for the Palestinian side. Classroom or small group discussion will be needed to get the most of this intriguing, provocative story.