The Bombs That Brought Us Together: WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2016

By Brian Conaghan

WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2016

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Law has lived in Little Town, on the border with Old Country, all his life. He knows the rules: no going out after dark; no drinking; no litter; no fighting. You don't want to get on the wrong side of the people who run Little Town. When he meets Pavel Duda, a refugee from Old Country, the rules start to get broken. Then the bombs come, and the soldiers from Old Country, and Little Town changes for ever.

Sometimes, to keep the people you love safe, you have to do bad things. As Little Town's rules crumble, Charlie is sucked into a dangerous game. There's a gun, and a bad man, and his closest friend, and his dearest enemy.

Charlie Law wants to keep everyone happy, even if it kills him. And maybe it will ...

Perfect for readers of Patrick Ness, John Boyne and Malorie Blackman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Apr 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781408855751

Brian Conaghan

Brian Conaghan lives and works in the Scottish town of Coatbridge. He has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, and worked as a teacher for many years. His novel When Mr Dog Bites was shortlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal. The Bombs That Brought Us Together won the 2016 Costa Children's Book Award, The Weight of a Thousand Feathers won the 2018 Irish Book Award for Teen/YA Book of the Year, and We Come Apart, a verse novel co-authored with Carnegie Medal-winner Sarah Crossan, won the 2018 UKLA Book Award. Cardboard Cowboys, Brian's first middle-grade novel, published in 2021 and is full of his trademark heart, humour and crackling dialogue. Swimming on the Moon is his second middle-grade novel. @ConaghanAuthor

Reviews for The Bombs That Brought Us Together

[salsabrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Charlie Law lives in Little Town. Little Town is in a conflict with Old Country. Old Country militia has taken over Little Town, harassing the people, bombing buildings. Life is about survival, managing meager supplies, and laying low. Charlie has a new neighbor Pav Duda, a refugee from Old Country. Despite all the suspicions Little Town holds about Old Country, Charlie takes Pav under his wing, trying to teach him the lingo and how to get along in Little Town. But gaining favors from the Big Man means Charlie ends up caught in a catch-22 situation that will profoundly impact Pav's family. The rapid-fire dialog highlights the tensions of living in Little Town with Charlie coming across as an amusing shlub just trying to make it. A different kind of book, not sure how or where I would place it, but entertaining and thought-provoking.