He wants him to see “all of the lights.” I flipped that idea on its head to create the title. With my narrator, he wants his son to have every possible opportunity that any American child should have. I wasn’t consciously aware of the Forster quote! I was thinking of Kanye West’s song “All of the Lights.” In the video for the song we see that he’s trying to protect his daughter from the dangers of their rough neighborhood. and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.” Forster’s quote from “A Room with a View”? “We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place. The word “shadow” is used frequently in the book, as a noun, verb or adjective. But what if both are right and wrong at the same time? A bit of humility might go a long way to ultimately ending racism and the damage we do to ourselves and our families. Both parents are sure their approach is right. Another lesson is that none of us should be too arrogant about our beliefs. It won the Spread The Word/Bookouture Prize in 2020 and was long listed for the Laxfield Literary Agency Award. It’s a dark novel which unsettles ideas about victims and villains. None of us are really safe until all of us are. Her first novel, The Shadows We Cast is written in dual narrative, revealing the inner thoughts of both the victim and the perpetrator of a sexual assault. It doesn’t matter your race, gender, or age. One lesson is that racism affects us all.
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