Published 13th February 2025 by Faber Books.
From the cover of the book:
Summer, 1991.Dean: sun-stung and sticky with cool ice-pop juice, walks to the middle of The Green to get a good gawk at the new salon. And at the owner's kid. Hands deep in his pockets, his jet-black mop of hair hides the tension in his face at the thought of going back home.
Shauna: stands well hid behind her ma - her eyes dark and haunted like the rest of her. The salon is theirs, a fresh start. The smell of her ma's Body Shop perfume clings to her jumper - Shauna can't be anywhere else other than here.
Instantly inseparable, their friendship blooms. But as time passes and tell-tale blushes and school fights develop into something deeper, conflicting responsibilities threaten to pull Shauna and Dean apart.
When all seems lost, will they find each other under the same blue sky?
***********
Summer, 1991. Dean and his friends stand on The Green peering into the new salon that has opened. Inside, Shauna hides behind her stylist mother and watches the teenagers looking on from outside, Dean catching her eye.
A friendship blossoms between them, developing into something deeper as the years go by. But the responsibilities that lie on their shoulders are always there in the background, threatening to tear them apart...
This heart-wrenching story of love and friendship unfurls in two beautifully written timelines from Shauna's perspective, that play out in alternate chapters. The first begins in 1991 with the meeting of Dean and Shauna, and drops in on significant moments in their relationship over the years. The second follows Shauna over the course of one day in the present, when she is forced to confront harsh truths about her life, and come to terms with her regrets.
The storyline beginning in 1991 is full of nostalgia, and all the heart-aches of coming of age, with an extra lashing of poignancy from the family burdens that get in the way of Dean and Shauna's love story. Recurring characters appear, freewheeling between times of joy and tragedy, in past and present. You get to know them all intimately, which makes this story so darned affecting when you see them wading through the trials and tribulations that come with adulthood, and the consequences of their choices.
I cannot really say much more about how the story goes, but it is one that gets under your skin. Love, loss, and regrets about the road not taken are powerful themes that run deep through Dean and Shauna's tale, and Scarlett knows just how to write her characters to make them, and their sorrows, feel incredibly real - particularly given the way she writes their dialogue in appropriate dialect.
This is an out and out sobber, and it left me in pieces. For a book of under two hundred and fifty pages, it certainly packs a punch. Poignant, and unforgettable.
May All Your Skies Be Blue is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Faber Books for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Fiona Scarlett is the author of Boys Don't Cry, which was an international bestseller. She holds an MLitt in creative writing from the University of Glasgow and a masters in early childhood education. She was awarded the Denis O'Driscoll Literary Bursary through Kildare County Council in 2019 and a Literature Bursary through the National Arts Council Ireland 2020. She works full-time as a primary school teacher and lives in Co Kildare with her husband and two children.
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