While there is no lurid detail, the depiction of Billy’s family life is heartbreaking. How the author can say so much with so few words is inspiring.

Each page contains very few words, but each word is so powerful that you are totally immersed in the story world. It was such a lovely device in that book, so I was a little disappointed that the pictures in The Hideaway only illustrated the narrative rather than continuing it. While I liked the illustrations in this book, they didn’t help tell the story like the pictures in Thornhill. This is the third of her books I’ve read ( Thornhill and Merrylegs being the other two), and in each book she paints vivid characters and tells deep stories with an economy of words. The Hideaway is a compelling, exciting and emotional story that will stay with you long after you finish the last page.The story of Billy McKenna, a 13 year old boy who runs away from his troubled home, The Hideaway shows both Billy’s attempt to escape and his mother’s search for her missing son.įully illustrated by the author, this is a beautiful, moving, extremely emotional book that realistically portrays the nightmare of domestic abuse and how it isolates and destroys families. Covering themes of family, childhood, separation and reunion, domestic violence and doing the right thing, this is an important and beautiful book for middle grade readers right up to adults.īilly's story is illustrated throughout with tonal and textured black and white drawings, until the event on All Souls' Eve, when the text gives way to a series of double page images of the supernatural happening. The other tells of his mother's situation at home and the police search for Billy. One thread tells of Billy's experience of hiding away in the graveyard, his mixed-up feelings and emotions, and the supernatural events he eventually witnesses. The book is written in two alternating narratives, both different aspects of the same story. While hiding there he meets an elderly man who is tending the graves in preparation for a day in November when something magical is set to happen. The Hideaway tells the story of a boy, Billy McKenna, who runs away from a difficult situation at home and takes refuge in an overgrown graveyard. The wonderful long-awaited second novel from Pam Smy, celebrated author and illustrator of Thornhill. Smy takes children's books to another level. Smy is the genius writer and illustrator of the stunning Thornhill.

'The Hideaway by Pam Smy is a work of art.

The wonderful long-awaited second novel from Pam Smy, the celebrated author and illustrator of Thornhill.Ĭovering themes of families, childhood, domestic violence, being separated and reunited, this is an important and beautifully illustrated book for middle grade readers right up to adults.

Pam smy the hideaway