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"Do you want to know what happens when you die? I bet you’ve heard it all before. The long tunnel, the blinding light, the feeling of inner peace. It’s all true."
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We went to see To Kill a Mockingbird at the West Yorkshire Playhouse this week. It was ace! My favourite character in that story has always been Boo Radley - the reclusive neighbour who the town gossips have made into a bogey man. Boo lives off-stage, unseen and mostly silent, but in the end it is Boo that saves Scout and Jem - the children of Atticus Finch. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story full of kindness and courage. To me Boo is perhaps the bravest character because, to save the children he has come to love, he risks being seen - the very thing he fears most.
The story I’m sharing this week is called Boo. It is nothing like To Kill a Mockingbird, but the main character has a lot of resonances with Boo Radley. I didn’t set out to make her that way, in fact it took other readers to point a lot of them out to me. She’s not as brave as Boo, and she’s not about to save anyone’s life, but she’s on a similar journey. I think that one day she may turn out to be just as courageous and kind as him. I hope so, and I hope you like her as much as I do.
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Suggested listening:
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