I received a free copy from Netgalley to read here is the blurb

Here's the thing about being Inside. Ain't no one believes that they are.'

Ele has never been Outside.

She has never seen a tree or felt the rain.
Her whole world is Inside
With her books and the Others and Him.
But here's the secret . . .
Ele's getting out.
For good.

Ideally, I would have given this story 4.5 stars as having read the book Room, I kept comparing the two. Having said that, this book was equally as good and disturbing at the same time. I couldn't stop reading as the book came to a close to find out more about the characters that she describes in the tower with her, and to decide if they were real, fantasy or animals in there with her. I think if I hadn't read Room first I would have given it 5 stars, it was just difficult not to see the similarity.

I found the first half of this book hard going, maybe because of the subject matter, or maybe because in my head I was comparing it to Room. I found the second half of the book much easier to read and wanted to find out how it would end. Ele’s voice sings through the book much more strongly, and draws you into ‘both’ of her worlds. Her story becomes intertwined with the stories she has heard and remembered, blurring the lines between memory and fiction, all set against a bleak landscape.
Great little twist at the end.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this novel, I can see this transferring onto the big screen as well.
#Proofoftheoutside #netgalley

An amazing book. I first thought it was dystopian but the truth was worse. I would totally recommend it.

Wow I couldn’t put this book down! Hauntingly sad and quite disturbing. Read it in one day as I couldn’t wait to see what happened.

I feel that this is a book about horror. Children are locked in a shed with no access to the outside world and have no knowledge of the things we all take for granted. It is a take on the idea behind "Room" but the effects of the incarceration are worse. As the end of the story approaches it becomes compulsive reading - to discover what actually happened.
It is a story about the huge impact of the crime of imprisonment but focussing on the impact on the normal minutiae of life.
The main character learns quickly and seems to be able to speak and communicate normally, and to read. in fact she has a craving for books. This is puzzling and unlikely but makes for an action packed story as it reaches its conclusion.
I recommend it -- with reservations. not for the fainthearted!

I started reading this book and wondered what on earth I was reading, but stick with it folks, it is worth it. A well written book which is inspired by others. This young girl was living in a fantasy with reality at night and having witnessed a horrific incident with her brother when kept in the inside, managed to get out to the outside. She is terrified and the book conveys these feelings wonderfully. It will keep you interest and reveals all at the end. A good book that speaks how she would and she is lucky that he headed in the right direction.

Thank You Netgalley & Publishers For Granting My Request To Review This Book: If You’ve Enjoyed “Room”, This Is The Book For You!

Having Read “Room” Myself, Once I Was A Few Pages In, I Fell Into A Rythym With The Language Which Is Similar. The Descriptive Language Fits Perfectly With The Image The Author Portrays Of The “Girl In The Tower”.

Although This Is A YA Novel, It Deals With Issues Very Relevant To All Age Groups, Predominantly Mental Health And Is A Great Medium To Raise Awareness.

I Found The Book Picked Up For Me When I Entered The Second Part And That’s When I Was Hooked And Refused To Put It Down. I Liked The Introduction Of Willow, As A Way Of Answering Questions The Reader Had And Of Furthering The Character Of Ele. I Enjoyed The Twist Nearing The End Of The Book But Did Feel It Ended Too Abruptly.

Ele is being held captive in a small room by a man known as ‘Him’. She is fed like cattle with the others she shares a cell with. But these are shadowy characters I began to suspect were in her head. Ele is sure there is a world Outside. There are clues she was once on the Outside. How otherwise could she have learned to read, as reading one of her 3 books gets her though her day.
Ele starts to list the proof of Outside and keeps up the regime suggested by her brother Zeb before he was taken away. Zeb had plotted to escape, but Ele was not brave enough at the time. But then the time comes when she is.
Outside presents many fears to someone not experienced in the world. Yet Ele manages to overcome her fears and is befriended by a young boy equally alone and searching for recognition. In doing so, Ele saves not only herself, but Willow, his Dad, and going back to the cell, those left inside.
The story has to be well paced to be believable as such a transition cannot be accomplished swiftly. On the whole it succeeds and although not too much time is spent on officials following procedure, justice is done in the end which is satisfying.

This book is a fairy tale with a modern twist. It is beautifully written and totally spellbinding. Although it is primarily aimed at younger readers I enjoyed every word from the beginning to the end. The characters are well rounded and relatable. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves fairytales.

Ele knows some things: she lives on the Inside with the Others, and Outside is full of ogres, giants, dragons, princes, and Him. He is all she knows of the Outside, and he’s terrifying.

Drawing inspiration from Room, Outside is the story of how children make sense of the scary things that happen to them. It’s a difficult read for a few reasons, but a lot is left to the readers imagination to fill in the gaps. There’s a lot of really interesting use of language and many passages I had to read twice to understand the hidden meaning.

(Thanks to the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

I’m a little unsure about this book. For me it was a slow starter. It jus couldn’t get into it. Whether it was because of the time it took for the story to speed up.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Penguin Random House uk for my eARC in exchange for my honest review

Subjected to a privation reminiscent of Emma Donahue’s ‘Room,’ Ele seeks proof of Outside. She finds it in her three books, in the smell of Him and in the door through which Zeb’s body was taken.

Inside is all she’s ever known, all she understands, until one day, she gets out.

A gripping, imaginative story for young adults, I read it all in one go. Some of the subject matter is sensitive and may be triggering, but a lot is left to the reader’s imagination to fill in what has been left unsaid.

Very well written with a good use of characterisation and language, particularly for Ele.

ELE is stuck inside with the Others. She's adamant there is an outside, but she hasn't ever seen it, but she needs proof before she can do anything about it. However, all she has are the Others and Him, and he controls their cell... their Sun bars... the minimal food... and the door with the green light.. Where he comes and goes once a week.

This book has a multitude of trigger warnings, abuse - both mentally and physically. Which are shocking and upsetting but fortunately are not too graphic nor lengthy.(although the plot is a girl trapped inside a room so I guess that would contradict my statement)  I blitzed through this book within a few hours, but while it wasn't particularly exciting, I couldn't seem to put it down. I wanted to see how the book would unfold.. If Ele would escape.. what would happen to Him and the Others.

The character development within this book was brilliant. You get a deep insight to each character and you definitely develop bonds with each, but this is Ele's story.. so the main focus throughout is on her.. her mental health.. her struggles... her freedom.

I am definitely keen to read more from Sarah Ann Juckes. Straight from the cover I was immediately intrigued and that feeling remained with me the entirety of the book. Whilst excitement was certainly not present, it would be difficult to muster this emotion when the book is strongly linked to captivity and mental health. The ending was exactly how I'd predicited but I still enjoyed reading how this would unfold, so I was unsuprised with how the twists came into action, but nevertheless I still enjoyed reading.

Overall: 3.5 Stars - Although the writing didn't give too much away this book was impossible to put down. The little twists weren't surprising but were timed perfectly. Easy read if you're looking for something different.

Ele is imprisoned in what can only be described as some sort of hell. Kept against her will, she dreams of the outside. She doesn't even know if the outside exists, but she thinks it must due to the 'proofs' she finds. The man who keeps Ele captive is terrifying. She must escape or she will surely die. Will she ever find out if the outside is real? I thought this story was excellent and although at times it made my skin crawl, I couldn't put it down because I was rooting for little Ele and her determined spirit. A great read.

There's Ele, and Bee, and Cow, and Queenie. There was Zeb too, before. All locked inside the tower. Waiting. Waiting for light, water, 'rain', and Him. To them there is no outside. All that exists is in that tower. But not for Ele, she has her proofs. Proofs of outside, of grass, and trees and dragons. Of freedom.

This book was one of those books that you just could not put down. Right from the beginning, it was something different than I had read before. The narration from innocent and naive Ele was shown just by the way she talks and thinks. You get pretty invested in the whole story, hoping and rooting for her to succeed in escaping and finding the truth. Yes, it was a little frustrating at times trying to figure out what she was actually talking about, but I think it added depth to the story.

I loved the thrill of this book. Though I was a little disappointed with the ending a little, I thought it was going to end in quite a different way, I still very much enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more from Juckes!

Thanks to net galley for a copy in exchange for a review!

I read Outside  in a single sitting, that's how gripping it was. Reminiscent of the incredibly moving film Room, starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay, Outside follows the story of Ele's journey to freedom and finding her courage.

The book deals with issue in a sensitive way in my opinion. I read that Sarah Ann Juckes has worked with NSPCC - National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children - in order to gain an insight into trauma and issues surrounding this, so I hope that she does indeed manage to portray these both realistically and respectfully.

Although the book deals with difficult subject matter and approaches mature topics, it still manages to retain a uniquely positive and engaging tone. This is largely due to the main character: Ele. Despite having gone through so much trauma, Ele manages to retain an innocence, largely due to the fairytales she has read and constructs an entire world in her head in order to deal with her captivity.

Reading through Eles perspective was refreshing, as a reader you get to see the world through her eyes. All she knows of the outside world is through the fairytales she has read so it's interesting and sometimes amusing, to see the way she describes things and just like Ele, we have to figure it all out as we go.

I don't want to spoil anything as the twists and turns this novel takes are part of what makes it such a great story - but just rest assured, Juckes takes a reader on a real journey and will keep you guessing.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a unique and impactful story, with a hopeful tone even in the midst of such a dark topic.

I enjoyed this novel. For a young adult novel, it does a great job of walking the fine line of mature themes, told from a naïve point of view in a sensitive way. It begins with a young girl that we can identify as someone who has been locked away Inside. She has no real concept of Outside, except what she's managed to glean from some fairy tales and the obvious idea that the man who comes in to 'visit' her every week or so must come from somewhere.

As is inevitable, the girl does manage to actually visit the Outside, and the author does a fine job of showing us our world from the viewpoint of someone who has absolutely no frame of reference to guide her. It would be difficult to say anything more without adding spoilers that I think would detract from the story as we get to learn about the world at the same time as our protagonist.

While there are some extremely mature themes, many of the more egregious ones are merely hinted at in a way that the knowledgeable reader will be able to recognise, but it isn't overt. I felt this was a good way to handle these situations.

Definitely recommended.

Ele lives in a tower with long blonde hair and has been trapped there for many years. If you think this is a re-telling of Rapunzel... it's not. It's a debit YA book about a girl locked up in this tower, where feed is given, sun bars turn on and off, and when the light turns green He's coming to visit!

Very well written, it kept me guessing right until the end. The mind is so precious and fragile. I really liked Ele. I really enjoyed the play on words and descriptions of things from a world that Ele knows of fairy tales. This thriller is not an easy read although there are splashes of humour throughout which lightens a dark story. It will definitely appeal to people who've read Room, The Bunker Diary and Blood Family.

I know this is a child’s book and I think if I was possibly age 12/13 I would have loved it. Don’t know if it crosses over to Adults as well, mainly because for me it reminded me of Room and my biggest issue why wasn’t the police called as soon as they found her in shed??

This Young Adult novel, similar in theme to Room, is a harrowing and desperately sad read. It grips you from page 1 and won’t let go. Though as it is a YA book, despite it hinting at atrocities which Ele suffered through, there is little graphic disturbance.

However, I felt I needed to stop myself from analysing the story too much to get more out of it. I initially questioned the realism of Ele’s knowledge given her circumstances, and the reactions of the people who found her once she escaped her captor were a little hard to believe. It needs reading with an open mind in my opinion or I would have become too frustrated to enjoy the book.

But enjoy the book I did, and it got into my dreams - always a measure of a good read,
A very satisfying ending too.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

#netgalley #outside #sarahannjuckes #proofotheoutside