A gorgeous, sweet and moving little book, with a nice mix of magic and reality (sadly pretty hard-hitting reality) - but always incredibly sensitive and well dealt with. Riley is so perfectly written, he is absolutely believable as an eleven-year-old boy from the deep south. All he wants to do is find his Mama, and he is sure the Whispers - fairy-like creatures from the stories his Mama used to tell him - must be able to help him. It's so lovely and refreshing to have a book for younger readers with a main character that happens to be gay, we need more like this! Some of the things Riley says really made me laugh, one that grown-ups will appreciate too.

I received an advanced copy of this from Penguin and was so happy when it arrived. I had been hearing whispers (…) of this book on Book Twitter for a while and wanted to see for myself what it was about. We follow Riley James through what at first seems like a sci-fi/fantasy story with old mysteries of the local wood hanging heavily over everything. As we go through the story we find that Riley’s mum is missing and he will do anything to find her, including giving a tribute to the mysterious creatures who live in the woods. We also explore Riley’s sexuality and this is done in a gentle way, gradually being introduced as a ‘condition’ that God despises. A wonderful book full of surprises, twists and turns. Exploring loss, wonder, belief, homosexuality in rural USA, and grief. There was many a time I was in tears but just couldn’t look away.