REVIEW: Star by Star by Sheena Wilkinson (In Association with Little Island)

Blurb

A new edition of an invigorating tale of suffragettes and heroes, courage and survival, as World War One ends, a pandemic sweeps the land – and women get to vote!

Stella has always looked forward to changing the world. It’s what she was brought up to do, by a suffragette mother who knew all about fighting and rebellion. But it’s November 1918. The great flu pandemic sweeping the world has robbed Stella of her mother and her home, and she’s alone in a strange country, with an aunt she’s never met.

But change is coming – the war is over, and women are about to vote for the first time. History is being made, but how can she help make it? As election day approaches, a day that will transform Ireland forever, Stella realises that she can indeed change the world. Not alone, and not all at once. But just as stars come one by one to brighten the night sky, so history is made person by person, girl by girl.

About the Author

Sheena Wilkinson is one of Ireland’s most acclaimed writers of fiction for young people. She has previously published seven other novels with Little Island Books, winning such awards as Book of the Year, Honour Award for Fiction and Children’s Choice at the Children’s Books Ireland awards, a White Raven and a place on the IBBY Honour List. She lives in Co Down, Northern Ireland, and is a full-time writer.

Review

Star by Star is a an emotive tale of feminism and self-belief against the backdrop of 1918 in the fictionalised seaside town of Cuanbeg in the north of Ireland.

Tackling the complexities of the aftermath of the first world war, the influenza pandemic, Irish independence, and women’s suffrage in a YA narrative is not easy, but Sheena Wilkinson has achieved this flawlessly.

‘The flu was a wolf stalking the country, huffing and puffing, and we were the little pigs barricading our houses against it.‘
pp. 151–152.

Sheena builds a beautifully written impactful and empathetic story about the fight for a better future for women in the lead-up to the first election where some women (only householders over 30) could vote.
 
The protagonist, 15-year-old Stella (‘star’), is determined and outspoken. Although from an adult perspective, she sometimes misses the nuances of politics and war, these heavy subject matters are grounded within the boundaries of relatable teenage experiences. Stella may not understand why her Aunt Nancy wants to remain politically impartial (to avoid risking losing business); however, she has a clear sense of right and wrong. As Sheena mentions in the ”Foreword”, ‘for every world-famous campaigner like Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, there are thousands of ordinary girls‘ like Stella, empowering young girls reading Star by Star.

‘I thought of all the women voting today, every vote brightening the future, like stars pricking through the darkness one by one.’
pp. 178–179.

This is a book I wish I could have read as a young girl. Stella is outspoken, kind, and brave. I believe that, especially in this day and age with misogyny being so rampant, Star by Star is such an important story to tell. We need to tell little girls that it’s okay to be strong and outspoken!

I also really adored the caring sibling-like platonic relationship between Sandy and Stella.

Sheena, herself, says that the message of Star by Star is even more important now than when it was first published. It’s one of her favourites of all the books she’s written.

And if – like me – you’re itching for more, you can meet Stella again in Hope against Hope (and Sandy) and Sandy and Helen in Name upon Name!