This book reminded me a little of Room by Emma Donoghue as our narrator is a six year old child struggling to make sense of a terrifying event.

Zach is in a cupboard in the classroom with his teacher and classmates, through the door he can hear loud sounds and so despite having practised ‘lockdown’ events at school before he knows this isn’t a practice.

“Lockdown meant don’t go outside like for the fire alarm, but stay inside and out of sight."

I have to admit I struggled, straight away, it never occurred to me, despite the rise of violence in schools, particularly in the US, that children practiced for these events in the same way we did the odd fire drill as children. There is no overt violence witnessed that day, or at least not by Zach who having described the noises from his hiding place, the obvious fear of the other little children and the smells as they waited for the all clear. Sadly there are some fatalities. It soon turns out one of them is Zach’s older brother Andy.

"I could pick whatever I wanted, she said, so I put in the dollar and pressed the button for Cheetos. That’s junk food, and most of the time it’s a no to junk food, but today was a no-rules day, remember?"

This was a hard book to read and not just for senselessness that we all feel when we hear about another school shooting. The hard part was witnessing the grief of this one family through a child’s eyes. The reason why is in part the reason why it was such a good idea to read this from a child’s perspective because children are more honest than adults.

“Yesterday we did all the things we do every Tuesday, because we didn’t know that today a gunman was going to come”

Andy had oppositional defiant disorder which in child’s terms meant he made his mother and father angry and sad a lot of the time, and he was mean to Zach and so at first from his childlike perspective maybe life at home will be easier without Zach?

"And I thought about how we didn’t know then that it was going to be the last normal day, or maybe we would have tried not to have all the same fighting we always have."

Of course it isn’t like that, and as the grief drives Zach’s mother on to campaign for the shooter’s family to be held responsible for their actions, sadly in her mission to ensure they are punished, she seems to have overlooked Zach’s continuing trauma. Zach’s father returns to work and Zach is left to amuse himself which he does in touching and yet believable ways. Always important when you are reading from a child’s viewpoint. He is an appealing child, and the power in his character, as in the rest of the book, is that it is realistic. People don’t instantly turn into ‘angels’ when tragedy strikes, in fact they often do incomprehensible things, all completely understandable, but it is a brave author who shines the light on how this can play out for both the family involved, and the wider community.

This was a thoughtful book, it dealt far less with the initial crime than I expected and the authors insights and portrayal into ‘life after’ were hard-hitting and to an extent confront all sorts of emotions felt that can’t be easily expressed by adults as a different expectation is laid on those bereaved. I was completely tied into the story and ended the book with tears dripping off the end of my nose - this definitely belongs to that list of books whose characters I won't forget in a hurry.

I'd like to thank the publishers Pan Mamillan for allowing me to read a copy of Only Child, This unbiased review is a thanks to them and the author for such a well-written, if emotional, story.
First Published UK: 8 Feb 2018
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
No of Pages: 352
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Amazon UK
Amazon US

Before I start my review I should probably briefly explain what this book is actually about, because I think everyone should go into this book with their eyes very much open as the issues Only Child tackles are very hard-hitting & difficult to read…

The book opens during a school shooting at 6-year-old Zach’s school; the book is told from his perspective & he is hidden in a cupboard with his teacher & some classmates. The sound of gunfire is detailed & when Zach & his companions are allowed to leave the building there are descriptions of dead & dying people around him. Soon after, Zach’s mother arrives at the church that the children & staff have been moved to, & this is when Zach realises that his older brother, Andy, is missing. There is then the detailed wait of Zach’s parents waiting to find out if Andy is at the hospital, or if he has died. We learn that Andy was one of the first victims of the shooter & that he did not survive.

The family then fall into a very dark hole, where none of them know how to cope & start to take things out on one another; Zach’s parents argue, Zach is often ignored & each parent handles their loss in a very different way. Mum is angry at the family of the shooter, whilst dad is almost frozen in time. Meanwhile Zach finds solace in Andy’s walk-in-wardrobe & struggles to deal with what has happened, almost, on his own. The way Zach deals with the loss of his brother is the main focus of the book, as it is told from Zach’s perspective, & the way Zach’s emotions have been written is, in my opinion, incredibly accurate. During this read I very much felt like I was going through this horrific part of the family’s lives with them; the writing is spot-on throughout & the story is very well put together.

I don’t know if Rhiannon Navin has gone through the horror of an experience like that of Zach, but it definitely felt like this book had been written by someone who had been there… the writing was painfully personal & throughout the book it felt like Zach’s story had happened to me; that I was in Zach’s position & was feeling everything he was. Although the writing made me cry & totally broke my heart, I can’t fault it at all – Rhiannon Navin certainly has a talent & deserves the upmost respect for this incredible piece of literature. It’s just a shame that it’s something authors need to write about now.

As I’ve said, Only Child is very honest; when Zach first learns of the loss of his brother he considers how life might be better now, without Andy’s anger & destructive personality… unlike what you would expect, Rhiannon hasn’t painted Andy as the perfect son & this is one of the things that made the book feel even more realistic. This part of the book made me consider how people react to the loss of someone who isn’t perfect, & made me realise that, sometimes, people may try to make themselves feel better by saying that their life might be better off without the person they’ve lost. Zach soon realises though, that life could never be better without his big brother, & that he was only moving through the first stage of grief.

Zach also asks a lot of questions, or thinks about a lot of things, that adults may not even consider; Zach asks his parents where his brother’s body is as no one has spoken about it & he also comes up with coping mechanisms that adults wouldn’t consider, even though they may benefit from them. One of the things this book really made me realise is how brilliant children are, & that’s probably the only beautiful thing about this story. Zach’s parents are brought back together by Zach’s kind, & broken, heart – reminding them that they haven’t lost everything, even though it may feel like it.

i found this story heartbreaking, its every parents worst nightmare, it is written well and was very hard to put down once started , be warned have lots of tissues to hand , i spent half the story in tears, would recommend this book

"We went to school that Tuesday like normal. Not all of us came home . . ."
The perfect tagline for this book!
Zach goes to school one morning with his brother and only one of them comes home again.
In this climate of US school shootings this book really hit home for me. I cannot imagine what it would be like to send your children to school and never see one of them again.
The story is told mainly through the eyes of Zach- a six yr old dealing with the death of his older brother that he didn't particularly get on well with and who tries to understand the complexity of grief and help his parents who also are heart-broken and dealing with their own sadness.
It really made me stop and think about the dynamic relationship between my children and I found it very eye-opening.
I am pleased to have read this and would highly recommend it!

Moving, sad and full of optimism at the same time. Grab a box of tissues and settle in for a great read!

This is a fantastic book with a story that is compelling to the reader. Told from the perspective of a 7 year old about the events during and after a shooting in his school. He was such an endearing and gentle character who told the story so lovely that you were compelled to keep reading.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy.

This was a very difficult read due to the content, but enjoyable nevertheless.

This book should be advertised more, especially where gun violence is so prevalent. It should be read in schools too, seeing as its about gun violence through the eyes of a child. Very moving book and poignant too! Highly recommend it

I wish that this book was purely fiction. All of my heart yearns for it to be false, for someone to tap me on the arm and tell me that this violence, this brutality that never seems to end, is just a twisted figment of my imagination.
But if this is a nightmare, it is not one that I am going to wake up from anytime soon.
Since that horrifying day at Sandy Hook Elementary School back in 2013, an event that Rhiannon Navin undoubtedly drew upon to create Zach’s heartbreaking narrative, there have been at least 239 school shootings worldwide.
239!
I mean… That is 239 schools full of students and staff who never have had to bear witness to such atrocities.
Honestly, I don’t even have the words.
Rhiannon Navin uses the perspective of six-year-old Zach, a child who should have remained oblivious, to paint an emotional and vivid portrait of childhood grief and the ways in which a young person, who has little grasp on the events that are going on around them, has to come to terms with something even adults are falling apart at. Zach approaches the subject in ways completely different to all the adults around him, and tries his hardest to find effective ways to deal with the loss of his brother, and the incessant and horrifying aftereffects of surviving the shooting. His perspective offers up a whole range of emotions and events that I doubt would be included if the narrator was an adult and, although the idea that he even has to go through this is absolutely heart-wrenching, in a way, his perspective also lends itself to be unexpectedly hopeful and honestly rather enchanting.
Only Child paints a portrait of a young family whose entire lives are destroyed in the space of a single day, and how they fight to put the shattered pieces back together as best as they know how.
They are not perfect, it’s not easy, but grief never is.
Especially one that comes as suddenly and as unexpectedly as this.
Rhiannon Navin also examines the all-encompassing effects that school shootings have on the community as a whole because, even though Zach’s family were one of the few who suffered a familial loss, the family doesn’t live in a bubble - other people lost friends, neighbours, extended family members, even acquaintances or people they said ‘hi’ to when they bumped into one another in the hall.
The community surrounding the school are close-knit, much like in real life, and I think showing the wider effects of the shooting really hammer home just how much of a plausible scenario, or even an inevitability, events like these are for so many people.
You read novels like this, or see school shootings unfolding in real-life, and it is so easy to see a community that you recognise - the same buildings, the same type of people, the same dynamics. A completely different subject, but I remember sitting in the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam absolutely sobbing because she wanted to be a journalist, and so did I. As if her story wasn’t horrendous enough, something then linked us throughout the decades, something I couldn’t ignore.
All atrocities happen to people who share even just one thing in common with ourselves, or with someone we love; they happen to people who have aspirations and goals and people who think they hung the stars.
And I think that we, as a community of people who love one another because of both our similarities and our differences, should do all that we can to make Zach’s story a less familiar one.

Have a huge pile of hankies at the ready before you start reading this beautiful, brilliant, bittersweet book.

Written from the perspective of a seven year old, initially it's difficult to adjust to the voice of a child, but stick with it, as Zach talks about his experiences in surviving a school shooting that sees his ten year old brother, Andy, killed. It's an emotional rollercoaster, as he innocently details the impact of the tragedy on himself, his parents, and the community.

What was most fascinating to me was Zach's attitude towards his big brother. As a mother of five children myself, who all struggle with the nuances of sibling rivalry, I could completely appreciate why Zach was initially happy to be free of his brother's bullying. Diagnosed with ODD, Andy was not an easy child, yet seems to have been favoured by his parents, which impacted on Zach, who didn't get the same level of support when it came to his activities and achievements. Yet over time, Zach develops empathy and sympathy for his brother and understands more why he may have been the way he was and what was really going on underneath the front he put up.

It's a tough read, but so, so worth it.

WOW what a great debut novel. Beautifully written and at time heart breaking. Highly recommend,
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This is, without doubt, a 5* read. One of those books that just gets to you. 10 year old Andy is shot whilst at school by a gunman. His 7 year old brother, Zach, is hiding in a closet and hears the shooting and sees the aftermath. This book tells of his and his parents' recovery from his point of view.

I found myself thinking about this book when with my young nephews (6 & 9). I found myself wanting to read more when I was out and about doing other things. With more time I'd have read this in one sitting, despite some of the content being quite hard to hear/read.

I thoroughly recommend it and well done Rhiannon Navin on an excellent debut...

I just finished this book, It took me a day and I got nothing else done. This is quite possibly one of the best books I have read. Although it was about such a dark subject it was a beautiful story. Its one of those books that stay with you I think.

Wow. This novel is easily in my top reads so far this year. I’m a sucker for books written from the perspective of a child. Room and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are some of my favourites, and now I’ll be adding Only Child to that list.

6-year-old Zach hides in the cloakroom while a shooter guns down his schoolmates. It sounds like a tragic read, and it is, but it’s also funny and moving and just a beautiful way of viewing loss from a child’s eyes.

I’m not usually a teary-eyed reader but Only Child really broke me and I loved it.

I started this book and just couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. Heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting the story is told by six year old Zach following a shooting at his school.
Zach, lives with Mum, Dad and brother Andy who has ODD. We learn about the challenges of life with Andy's condition and how it affects the family from Zach's perspective.
When their lives are turned upside down all the family react differently. Mum and Dad are torn apart by grief, dealing with it in different ways leaving Zach to try to make sense of everything on his own. It is amazing just what a child notices without realising what is going on. This is where the writing is superb, the reader can see what's happening in the adults lives through the innocent observations of a small, confused boy.
I rarely give five stars in review because a book has to have gripped me totally and live with me after I've finished to earn that.
If you read only one book this year make it this one.

This is the story of a terrible tragedy. A gunman starts shooting in a school killing 19 children and teachers. This is how his actions that day affect the families involved. What is unusual about this book is that it’s told through the eyes of a 7 year old boy who was caught up in it and tragically lost his older brother. It tells of the knock on effect to his family and how they all learn to cope. He actually gets the adults to stop and think about the damage that their behaviour is having on others around them.

Very moving - told through the eyes of a child - and so relevant in this day and age with the amount of horrific shootings in the US of late. Heart wrenching story which you will still be thinking about days later.

A horrendous scenario played out in the opening scene of the book rips a family apart. But instead of pulling them together, what has happened drives them further apart as they struggle to cope with the aftermath of the tragedy. It's not always an easy read, but thought provoking.

Only Child is brilliant. There is no other way to put it. The emotions you will be floored with are just one thing I can warn you about. This is a novel told entirely from the perspective of a six year old boy. It starts when he is hiding with his first grade class in a closet from a gunman. This is only the beginning..because the aftermath is where the majority of our story is held. Prepare for an absolutely heartbreaking novel that will completely take over you life while reading. Highly recommended to all readers.

Oh my word, Only Child completely captured my heart; I felt as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest, given CPR and put back in again leaving scars that will remind me of this beautiful book for the rest of my life.

Written from the perspective of a six year old boy who experiences the devastating event itself and the heart-breaking aftermath of a primary school shooting, Zach is a voice that I will never forget. I felt my heart squeeze as Zach talked about the sky crying and I almost felt as if I had to be strong for him, as I struggled to hold back the tears that kept threatening to fall. I don't want to write anything about the story as it could spoil it for others but I will say that Only Child is a book that is very hard to put down and impossible to forget.

I was reminded of the stages of grief as I read about Zach's story and saw how the adults around him were behaving. From the shock of the initial event to the anger as the parents look for someone to blame and the final acceptance as life goes on. I compared grief for an adult against grief for a child and although we think children are resilient and quick to bounce back, I think it was good to show Zach's denial and anger coming through. It's also a stark reminder that little ears hear a lot more than we realise.

I was so completely invested in Zach's story that I felt every single emotion with the characters in the book. I felt that Zach had a lot to teach us about acceptance and forgiveness but also that it's ok to be upset and angry. Zach's unique voice, so honest through his innocence, is written completely flawlessly making this a very special book indeed.

Only Child is an absolutely stunning book and I am completely astounded that this is Rhiannon Navin's debut novel. It's exceptional, outstanding, extraordinary, astounding...in fact it's all of the adjectives I can possibly think of and more! Only Child is definitely one of my top picks of 2018; even the coldest heart won't fail to be moved by this perfect novel of loss, hope and everything in between.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.