 The horrors of teen social media shaming with a supernatural twist If you’re on the hunt for a YA novel which effortlessly blends the horrors of teenage social media use with the tale of a 400-year-old witch trial then look no further. This was a superb read which carries a powerful message about the dangers of social media and peer pressure, delivering it in a naturalistic style, which never becomes heavy handed or preachy. In no time at all you will be rooting for the teenage protagonist Anna who is dragged through a horrific emotional wringer. The Burning is horror with a light touch, in reality the pain and long-term repercussions of one naive decision becomes scarier than any supernatural bogeyman. This novel should be essential reading for any 12-15-year-olds as it makes obvious the fact that these days you cannot delete anything from the internet and that your past is never truly behind you if it is leaked online. Anna learns this bitter lesson and although we do not know exactly what she has done until some way into the novel the reader has a fair idea. The fallout was severe and The Burning opens with Anna and her mother leaving their old life in Birmingham behind to live in a small coastal village near Saint Andrews on the east side of Scotland. Anna also changes her name and dreams of a fresh start. Starting any new school is difficult and Laura Bates completely nails the awkwardness of this transition, but before long Anna becomes friends with local girls, but bullying is never far away and soon her past catches up with her. The two new friends, Alisha and Cat, could have been fleshed out more, as could potential boyfriend Robin, but overall they were strong support characters. The bullying and group peer pressure was incredibly powerful, as was the ‘not our problem’ attitude of the school to any kind of protection for Anna. With bullying there are always ring leaders and teenagers can smell a victim from a mile away. The Burning has a second main story which nudges it into the horror genre, beyond the horrors of everyday teenage life (which were more than enough). As part of a school history project everyone has to research a topic of local interest and after Anna discovers an obscure reference to someone who was suspected of being a witch 400 year earlier, a retired local historian helps her with the project. As she uncovers the story, the plight of Maggie, she realises the ‘witch’ has many startling similarities to her own story and starts to feel a strong connection to the long-dead young woman, part of which whose story is told in flashback mode. Potentially there was scope to expand upon this older story, however, with the target audience being teenagers of 2019 I think the balance was probably right. This very clever novel, both in the 400-year-old story and Anna’s predicament raise startling similarities in how the woman is very often seen as the blame or cause, rather than the victim in these types of cases. Once again, this is naturally woven into the plot and any teenager reading The Burning should be able to pick up this underlying message; it is very easy to blame girls for what boys do to them. I loved the way the book ended and I hope any teenager who gets to the end of the novel will be shouting “COME ON ANNA!” as loudly as I was. If I was being harsh, you could say this ending was a tad too much like an American high school movie, but hey, it was cool anyway and I was very happy to go along with the flow. In my experience in YA fiction kids generally avoid books which obviously have a heavy-handed message, The Burning works because it combines the message of the dangers of social media with a top-notch story, believable story and a convincing dose of history. This might be the first YA novel by Bates but she has written widely on sexism and so it comes as no surprise that she tackles the subject in such a convincing manner. A totally irrelevant side-note: I grew up in the north of Scotland and the village of St. Monans really reminded me of a local village called Gardenstown on the North East coast. It was cliquey and had kirks (Scottish churches) everywhere! 5/5 Tony Jones THE BURNING BY LAURA BATES 'The Burning lights a fire in you - one that makes you want to fight for change and ignite sparks in others so the fire spreads and spreads.' - HOLLY BOURNE A rumour is like a fire. You might think you’ve extinguished it but one creeping, red tendril, one single wisp of smoke is enough to let it leap back into life again. Especially if someone is watching, waiting to fan the flames .. New school. Tick. New town. Tick. New surname. Tick. Social media profiles? Erased. There’s nothing to trace Anna back to her old life. Nothing to link her to the ‘incident’. At least that’s what she thinks … until the whispers start up again. As time begins to run out on her secrets, Anna finds herself irresistibly drawn to the tale of Maggie, a local girl accused of witchcraft centuries earlier. A girl whose story has terrifying parallels to Anna’s own… The compelling YA debut from Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and bestselling author of Girl Up.   |
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