Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Ink
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1980
WEBSITE: https://www.alice-broadway.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: England
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1980; married.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Alice Broadway is a British writer. She has released books in the fantasy genre.
Ink
Broadway’s first book is Ink. In an interview with a contributor to the Book Activist website, she described the volume’s plot. Broadway stated: “Ink is set in Saintstone: a world where all your good and bad deeds, all your successes and failures are tattooed onto your skin. Everyone can look at you and know all about you. The purpose of life in Saintstone is to be remembered after you die—and only the worthy deserve this honour.” She continued: “If you are counted worthy after your death your tattoos are preserved in a skin book for your family to keep forever. Ink tells the story of Leora, who is sixteen; her Dad has just died, and when she looks at his skin book, she realises a mark is missing, and then everything she thought she knew unravels.”
Broadway told Isela Guevara, a writer on the Pick My YA website, that daydreaming about one of her favorite topics led to the development of the plot for Ink. She remarked: “I am fascinated by Ancient Egypt, and I remember one evening sitting down and wondering how life would be if we related to death in the way the Ancient Egyptian culture did. It got me thinking about honouring the dead, preservation of that person’s life and story and one thousand daydreams later I had a world of tattoos and skinbooks.” In an interview with Richard Lea, contributor to the Guardian website, Broadway explained how writing the book influenced her. She stated: “Part of me is desperate to get a tattoo. Doing the research has made me a bit obsessed. The artists I’ve come across have been incredible and the people I’ve spoken to with tattoos—it’s such a culture, it’s amazing and yet I can’t bring myself to begin it. I’m not sure why. I think there’s lots to do with the permanence of it, the statement of it, how you feel about your body.”
Reviews of Ink were mixed. A Kirkus Reviews critic suggested: “The gorgeous cover, highly original premise, and dramatic climax can’t make up for tedious pacing and a muddled message.” Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, contributor to School Library Journal, asserted: “The promising opening chapters do not quite deliver. … Still, an interesting concept combined with action and intrigue will hook teen readers.” “Despite … the menace of several hateful characters, the book is refreshing in its use of gender, body image, and characters of color,” remarked Kristy Rademacher in Voice of Youth Advocates. Writing in Booklist, Maggie Reagan commented: “Leora’s growing awareness of the less-than-utopian aspects of her society is compelling.” Cassie Kemp, a reviewer in School Librarian, stated: “If you are looking for the next big dystopian YA series, then this may be it.”
Spark
Leora returns in Spark. In this volume, she explores the community of the non-tattooed, called the Blanks, from which her birth mother came.
A reviewer on the Tattisfaction website commented: “There’s political intrigue and skulduggery, a young girl taken out of her comfort zone, conflict, sabotage, rebellion, double-dealing, betrayal, redemption, murder, acts of heroism and acts of war. It’s well worth a read. … Spark is a very thought provoking book.” Referring to Broadway, the same reviewer stated: “She keeps you turning pages even when very little seems to be happening. Every page teases you expertly onto the next, each page gently building towards the cliff hanger of an ending that isn’t happy with just one twist.” A contributor to the Book Murmuration website highlighted the timeliness of the themes of the book, remarking: “In a climate of misinformation and prejudice, these themes have never been more relevant.” The same contributor asserted: “The ending is explosive. … Alice Broadway is a major talent, and she has created a fascinating world.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2017, Maggie Reagan, review of Ink, p. 64.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2017, review of Ink.
School Librarian, spring, 2017, Cassie Kemp, review of Ink, p. 61; summer, 2017, Elizabeth Finlayson, review of Ink, p. 125.
School Library Journal, November, 2017, Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, review of Ink, p. 80.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2017, Kristy Rademacher, review of Ink, p. 66.
ONLINE
Alice Broadway Website, https://www.alice-broadway.com (June 12, 2018).
Book Activist, https://thebookactivist.blog/ (April 19, 2017), author interview.
Book Murmuration, https://bookmurmuration.wordpress.com/ (April 26, 2018), review of Spark.
Guardian Online (London, England), https://www.theguardian.com/ (February 9, 2017), Richard Lea, author interview.
Pick My YA, http://www.pickmyya.com/ (February 4, 2018), Isela Guevara, author interview.
Tattisfaction, http://www.tattisfaction.co.uk/ (April 24, 2018), review of Spark.
A BIT ABOUT ME
I'm living my dream.
I get to write stories for a living - I daydream and wonder and create new worlds. My first novel, INK was one of the bestselling UKYA novels of 2017. The second book in the Skinbooks Trilogy, SPARK is released this Spring.
QUOTED: "Ink is set in Saintstone: a world where all your good and bad deeds, all your successes and failures are tattooed onto your skin. Everyone can look at you and know all about you. The purpose of life in Saintstone is to be remembered after you die – and only the worthy deserve this honour. If you are counted worthy after your death your tattoos are preserved in a skin book for your family to keep forever. Ink tells the story of Leora who is sixteen; her Dad has just died and when she looks at his skin book she realises a mark is missing and then everything she thought she knew unravels."
Author Interview: Alice Broadway
Posted on April 19, 2017 by thebookactivist
32827036
I am absolutely thrilled to welcome the author of the Ink, Alice Broadway to the blog. Alice is sharing some of the ideas and inspiration behind her brilliant debut novel Ink and the writing process in general. Thank you Alice for joining us!
I just have to say this loudly – I LOVED INK! Couldn’t put it down. For the benefit of those poor people (!) who haven’t read it yet, tell us a bit about it. That makes me so happy – thank you! Ink is set in Saintstone: a world where all your good and bad deeds, all your successes and failures are tattooed onto your skin. Everyone can look at you and know all about you. The purpose of life in Saintstone is to be remembered after you die – and only the worthy deserve this honour. If you are counted worthy after your death your tattoos are preserved in a skin book for your family to keep forever. Ink tells the story of Leora who is sixteen; her Dad has just died and when she looks at his skin book she realises a mark is missing and then everything she thought she knew unravels.
In Ink, people’s memories and significant life moments are tattooed on their skin to create a record of their life story: what was the inspiration for this idea and how did you go about researching it? It’s hard to put my finger on an exact inspiration, but I am definitely indebted to Ancient Egypt: I’m so fascinated by their approach to death and their ways of honouring the dead and their physical bodies. I love anything that makes me think twice about people’s motivations and I’m also really intrigued by the way we present our lives to near strangers on social media.
The world you create is very real, as are the people in it. I loved the use of fables to illustrate the history of Saintstone and where the people’s beliefs come from. It’s impressive enough to write a novel, let alone the fables within the story too – how did you go about writing them? If I’m facing writer’s block, my solution is to write or dream up a fable. There is something about the magic and gruesomeness of old traditional tales like Grimm’s that captures the idea of story for me. I sometimes work through my own difficulties by creating a fairytale-esque story. Is that weird?! I also come from a background of deep religious faith (although my own faith is very confused!) and I see story as the backbone of so many spiritual worldviews and I wanted this to be represented in Ink.
Leora has some really interesting relationships with the other central female characters in the story – her mother, her best friend and her mentor. Did your own relationships with female relatives and friends inform this? For me, relationships are the things that either cause you to flourish or to fold. I am very lucky to have good female friends, family and role models. I don’t feel that any of the relationships in Ink are exactly representative of the lovely people I have in my life, but I really hope I’ve been able to show the way other people can shape your world and thinking. I really like a lot of the characters in Ink and I feel for each of them. I should say that my Mum is much more chilled than Leora’s!
Faith and belief play a central part in Leora’s story; she is clearly grappling with things she feels she should believe versus the reality of what is happening around her. How important do you think faith is in today’s world? This is something I wrestle with personally, so for me it’s a big thing but I have no idea how it seems to anyone else. I guess we all spend time trying to work out what life means and how to live a life that is really worthwhile. I have experienced both the comfort of a very rigid faith and the freedom of having no faith at all and I wish I could see how other people make their way on this journey.
You’ve talked about your fascination with death and the afterlife in previous interviews. In the book, the people’s ancestors live on through their skin books; the family get to keep (literally) a part of them – perhaps in the same way that some people in our culture keep the ashes of loved ones. Has writing Ink changed your perception of death and keeping memories of loved ones alive? Researching Ink led to some amazing discoveries and one of those was the death positivity movement, which is a non-religious group of people trying to ease the fear of death and normalise what is a very ordinary thing. I’ve been greatly inspired by the words of Caitlyn Doughty who writes and vlogs brilliantly about death, dying and post-death practices. For me it has forced me to think about death and to talk about it more openly. It has made it a little less scary, which has to be a good thing.
The idea of the Blanks (outcasts and people who don’t share the beliefs of the inhabitants of Saintstone) is quite chilling. This is reflective of so many cultures across the world controlled by religious beliefs or where people who don’t share the same ideals – is this something you wanted to address through your novel? My feeling is that we love to create an identity, and belonging to a group gives us that. I’m concerned about the ways our loyalty to our own group can mean refusal to empathise and understand others. I didn’t aim to write a political book but I’m really interested in the ways it’s inspired people to talk about division, prejudice and control.
Ink is your debut novel; tell us a bit about the process of writing – how long it took; highs and lows; anything that kept you going if there was a low point! I’m super aware that all my answers so far have been a bit gloomy, serious and morbid and I really want to be super cheery BUT, I started writing Ink just after I was diagnosed with depression and for me, writing has been a great therapeutic thing. Of course, it also meant there were days I couldn’t write and that it was slow-going. On a much happier note, it has been just amazing to sign with my dream agent (Jo Unwin) and to then be snapped up by Scholastic, and get to work with an incredible editor (Genevieve Herr). Writing is so solitary and once I had other people giving me feedback and helping shape the book I kept feeling like I was cheating! I think getting to work with gifted and brilliant people has been one of the huge pluses – when people see what you’re trying to do and help you make it better it feels like a dream!
It must be a life-changing – writing a novel, being published, reaching so many readers. How does everyday life feel now and what do your family and friends make of your success? I’m still changing nappies and getting woken most nights by the kids! In all the best ways life hasn’t changed a bit but my dad published a blog post after reading Ink and he wrote that ‘it just goes to show that childhood dreams can come true’. I really feel I’m doing my dream job and I couldn’t be more thrilled. My family and friends have been LOVELY and so supportive and sweet. And so far they’ve been excellent at laughing at me being slightly crap at publicity and the like.
Finally, what would you most want to be recorded on your skin if we lived in a society like Saintstone? I’ve been thinking about this so much! For me, the family tree would be crucial but I wish there would be ways of showing more than just how someone is related to you. Family is so much more than blood or marriage and I would love a way to express how much I love those who are precious to me.
Thank you Alice for such brilliant responses and sharing your insight with us. We wish you every success with Ink and can’t wait for the next book!
Find out more at www.alice-broadway.com and @alicecrumbs.
QUOTED: "Part of me is desperate to get a tattoo. Doing the research has made me a bit obsessed. The artists I’ve come across have been incredible and the people I’ve spoken to with tattoos—it’s such a culture, it’s amazing and yet I can’t bring myself to begin it. I’m not sure why. I think there’s lots to do with the permanence of it, the statement of it, how you feel about your body."
Alice Broadway: 'I guess it's inevitable that I became a bit death-obsessed'
By Richard Lea
Ink’s heroine loses faith in a culture where people’s histories are etched on their skin – reflecting its author’s own disaffection from evangelical Christianity
@richardlea
Thu 9 Feb 2017 07.31 EST Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 07.45 EST
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Alice Broadway
‘I didn’t mean to kill her dad, but somehow it happened’ … Alice Broadway
How to explain faith? Alice Broadway does it with cake. “Faith is not just a slice of your life that fits in nicely, it affects everything. So if your faith goes, then everything is slightly changed by it, too – family life, friendships, the choices you make. I imagine it like a cake: it wouldn’t be a slice you could remove, it would be more like the flour. You can’t get rid of it, and it looks very different without it.”
Broadway knows – personally, painfully – what it is like to have faith and then lose it. Born in 1980 and raised as an evangelical Christian by her family in Thame, just a few miles from Oxford, she would later spend 10 years living in an evangelical community in a small town near Preston. But life at the church, where her husband was employed as a youth worker, became difficult. Broadway says she and her family “experienced some bullying and fairly abusive, controlling manipulation. That then led to a proper crisis of faith.”
By 2014, things reached breaking point. “We chose to leave a church where the leader and leadership couldn’t be questioned or challenged,” Broadway says. “We were told that we were disloyal and ‘pharisaical’ for disagreeing with those in charge. As a family we felt we couldn’t stay.”
Losing her Christian faith, she says, was the worst thing she could imagine. But she found some consolation in one activity: writing fiction. “Writing it was a means of processing it … when it felt like the feelings were very strong,” she says. “Looking at a different world, a different person, a different faith crisis was much easier.”
Gloomy and depressed, Broadway found herself circling around ideas of death, questioning the beliefs about judgment, afterlife and eternity that had formed the bedrock of her existence. “There is a lot of emphasis on ‘future hope’ in evangelical Christianity: the idea that every hard thing in life is worth it because we’ll be with God in a perfect new creation when we die,” she says. “I guess it’s inevitable that I became a bit death-obsessed!”
A documentary about ancient Egypt set her wondering about different attitudes towards mortality, about what in a life should be preserved. And when Broadway came across the work of UCL academic , she found herself able to imagine a culture that wasn’t afraid of death – sowing the seeds for her debut novel, Ink.
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Set in a world where each character’s life is written on their skin, the people in Ink add tattoos to mark significant events: marriages, births, a new job or even a love affair. After death, in Broadway’s world, the body is flayed and the skin of those deemed worthy is preserved in books that every family keeps in their home.
Citizens deemed unworthy of this tradition are cast into oblivion, with their skin books destroyed publicly, thus consigning them to be forgotten – a fate considered worse than death. There are also those who refuse to be tattooed – the ghostly “blanks” – who have been forcibly resettled beyond the town walls and are rumoured to steal souls.
Ink starts when 16-year-old Leora loses her father and discovers that, before she was born, he was convicted of helping the blanks and marked with a crow symbol on the back of his neck – a tattoo he hid because if seen, it would result in his skin book being destroyed. Leora teams up with a friend to stop the authorities from finding out about the mark, to save her father’s skin book from this second death.
The novel grew out of Leora’s loss. “I didn’t mean to kill her dad, but somehow it happened,” Broadway says. “The first thing I wrote was her seeing his dead body and then him coming back as a book – that difference between the end of life and the beginning, in their view, of a new life.”
The gruesome process of peeling and preserving skin that Broadway describes might strike some as a little strong for a young adult audience, but Broadway says she always had that audience in mind, being a fan of the likes of Patrick Ness, Suzanne Collins and Meg Rosoff herself. Reactions to her grisly subject matter have so far been divided: “I’ve definitely had some people say that they just can’t cope with the idea of flaying, or that they’re really squeamish and just the thought of it puts them off, which is fair enough. But then I’ve also had people say, ‘I’m fascinated by tattoos, I’m really excited about this.’”
It’s a fascination the author shares, though she hasn’t yet found the courage to go under the needle. “Part of me is desperate to get a tattoo. Doing the research has made me a bit obsessed. The artists I’ve come across have been incredible and the people I’ve spoken to with tattoos – it’s such a culture, it’s amazing and yet I can’t bring myself to begin it. I’m not sure why. I think there’s lots to do with the permanence of it, the statement of it, how you feel about your body.”
Ink ends with Leora at much the same point in her spiritual journey as her creator. The novel is the first part of a trilogy – Broadway is currently writing the second book and has plans for the third. “I’m now at the stage where I feel like I’ve dismantled everything and I’m left with the rubble, and I’m just working out whether I want to build anything else. A very weird place,” Broadway says. “Having gone from a worldview that was very clear and was very [much] based on certainty to being genuinely agnostic is quite uncomfortable, it’s a long journey.”
There are ways in which the novel is writing her own story, she continues, “and I’ve not reached an ending. I’ll be really interested to know at the end of the trilogy whether Leora has a neat ending.” But writing fiction about something as painful and scary as loss of faith is a way to exert some control as she “can choose who’s going to win.” A brief laugh and a shrug. “Doesn’t happen in life, does it?”
Ink is published by Scholastic at £7.99 and is available from the Guardian bookshop for £6.79.
QUOTED: "I am fascinated by Ancient Egypt and I remember one evening sitting down and wondering how life would be if we related to death in the way the Ancient Egyptian culture did. It got me thinking about honouring the dead, preservation of that person's life and story and one thousand daydreams later I had a world of tattoos and skinbooks."
Beyond The Bio: Alice Broadway
February 4, 2018
Interviewed by
Isela Guevara
Hello, it’s Isela here! I’m joined today by Alice Broadway, debut author and soon-to-be trilogy genius! The first book of her trilogy, Ink, makes you rethink the concept of tattoos and how people choose to express themselves when no secrets are hidden. Ink will have you obsessed and dying for book number two, titled Spark and coming out later this year. Now let’s get to the interview!
_______________________
Isela: How did you come up with such a unique idea for your trilogy?
Alice: Daydreaming. I read or heard someone say that a good way to get ideas for stories is to pursue your peculiar passions. I am fascinated by Ancient Egypt and I remember one evening sitting down and wondering how life would be if we related to death in the way the Ancient Egyptian culture did. It got me thinking about honouring the dead, preservation of that person's life and story and one thousand daydreams later I had a world of tattoos and skinbooks.
Isela: Are you inked yourself?
Alice: I am utterly un-inked. I feel like such a disappointment! I absolutely adored the chance to research the world of tattoos and the incredible artists who create them. I'm obsessed, but maybe I am a bit like Ink's main character, Leora, who just can't settle on a tattoo design to commit to for life.
Isela: My favorite character was Obel! Who's yours?
Alice: Oh, I'm so glad you liked reading Obel! I am very fond of him. I relate a lot to Leora's uncertainty about herself and her life and I love her friendship with Verity. I just don't think I can pick a favourite.
Isela: So I know being an author is awesome, but you're getting a new job today. Would you rather be an inker, a reader, a flayer, or a storyteller?
Alice: Oh MAN. Telling stories is in my bones, so I think I would love to do that. But could I perhaps have some work experience as an inker, just to see what it feels like to create a tattoo?
Isela: Sounds like a plan! I love the short fables in your novel. What inspired you to write them?
Alice: I'm very interested in the stories we tell ourselves that bring meaning to our lives - whether that is sacred texts, family history or our own personal spin on our life's narrative. I wanted to look at how stories can create the rules we follow. Also, I have always been a sucker for a myth or fable - I think in fairy tales.
Isela: I especially loved The Box! Such a powerful lesson for such a short fable! What's your favorite fable?
Alice: My favourite fable in the book is probably The Sisters - it's the origin story for how this community ended up committing their lives to their skin in ink. If you can be patient enough for the next book in the trilogy, there are more fables to come.
Isela: What do you hope readers take away from your books?
Alice: I'm a firm believer that once the writer has finished writing, the reader owns the book - they get to decide what it means and how they want to react to a story. I hope people who read Ink are entertained, diverted and that they remember it. I hope it brings more joy to the world. Anything else is a bonus.
__________________________
That wraps up today’s interview with Alice. Don’t forget to order a copy of her book and to come back again next week, when Sasha will be chatting with fellow teen and acclaimed actress Bailee Madison about her debut novel, Losing Brave. See you then!
QUOTED: "Despite ... the menace of several hateful characters, the book is refreshing in its use of gender, body image, and characters of color."
Broadway, Alice. Ink: The Skin Books,
Book 1
Kristy Rademacher
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.5 (Dec. 2017): p66.
COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
Broadway, Alice. Ink: The Skin Books, Book 1. Scholastic, January 2018. 336p. $17.99. 978-1-338-19699-
3.
3Q * 3P * J * S
For citizens of Saintstone, tattoos are a public record of a persons good deeds, special moments, crimes,
age, and health. Images on everyone's skin tell their sacred stories. Skin is preserved after death, turned into
a book to be read and reread so no one is "Forgotten." To be unmarked, or "blank," is horrifying and
anathema. Leora wants to be an Inker like her father, tattooing peoples defining moments, rather than a
Reader like her mother, reading peoples secrets. When her beloved dad dies, Leora waits for his skin book
to come home, to cherish with the other ancestors' books. But, something goes wrong. The government says
blanks are a threat to society and her father's book is being questioned. Terrified for her dad's memory,
Leora struggles in her new life as an Inker, questioning her world. What mark will define her story? Will
she and her father end up Forgotten?
This novel reads like a fairytale crossed with a simplified version of George Orwell's 1984. Readers might
have some squeamishness about skin books and this culture's reverence for them. Major plot points are
predictable, and savvy readers will easily figure out the big reveals. This unfortunately dilutes the impact of
the protagonists emotional journey. Despite the rise of a totalitarian regime and the menace of several
hateful characters, the book is refreshing in its use of gender, body image, and characters of color. Ink is a
solid purchase where fairy tales or dystopias are popular.--Kristy Rademacher.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Rademacher, Kristy. "Broadway, Alice. Ink: The Skin Books, Book 1." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec.
2017, p. 66. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522759457/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b4d6d6a9. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522759457
QUOTED: "Leora's growing awareness of the less-than-utopian aspects of her society is
compelling."
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1526582871915 2/6
Ink
Maggie Reagan
Booklist.
114.5 (Nov. 1, 2017): p64.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Ink.
By Alice Broadway.
Jan. 2018. 336p. Scholastic, $17.99 (9781338196993); e-book, $17.99 (9781338197006). Gr. 7-11.
In the town of Saintstone, everyone wears their lives on their skin--the good and the bad. Under the guise of
maintaining honesty and transparency, every citizen has their life accomplishments and mistakes tattooed on
their bodies; after death, that skin is preserved, turned into a book, and judged. Leora has always dreamed of
becoming an inker, responsible for tattooing people's stories, but when her father dies and the marks on his
skin tell a darker story than she imagined, she begins to see into her community's murkier underworld. As
her government grows harsher and stories of unmarked outcasts, called "blanks," begin to circulate, Leora
begins to question everything she was certain about, including the world she lives in and her place in it.
With echoes of fairy tales and Greek and Egyptian mythologies, this debut reads like a natural successor to
Lois Lowry's The Giver (1993). Leora's growing awareness of the less-than-utopian aspects of her society is
compelling, and this offers many moral questions that will linger long with readers. --Maggie Reagan
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Reagan, Maggie. "Ink." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2017, p. 64. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515383100/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e6b983d3.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A515383100
QUOTED: "The gorgeous cover, highly original premise, and dramatic climax can't make up for tedious pacing and a muddled message."
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1526582871915 3/6
Broadway, Alice: INK
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Broadway, Alice INK Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $17.99 1, 2 ISBN: 978-1-338-19699-3
"Watch out for the blanks."
Sixteen-year-old Leora takes her father's dying words as a warning against those who refuse the sacred
obligation to record every deed as observable tattoos, eventually to be bound and reverently preserved by
their descendants. So the discrepancies between her father's own "skin book" and her memories shake all of
Leora's comfortable assumptions. Broadway presents an intriguing dystopian conceit: an apparently
benevolent society, completely transparent, valuing persons of every color equally (although it's considered
"lucky" and "refined" to be "pale" like Leora)--yet also riddled with bigotry, paranoia, and hypocrisy. Still,
some of the ambiguities are just confusing: are the "blanks" individuals who are exercising free choice or an
entirely separate race? Is Leora responsible for her own decisions, or is she a special, predestined savior?
Leora's present-tense narration slowly dribbles out trickles of plot amid torrents of mind-numbing
exposition, studded with portentous dreams and twists on traditional folk tales. While her voice--na?ve,
vacillating, and constantly self-deprecating--can be irritating, it's far less frustrating than the overused
device in which characters inexcusably conceal vital information in order to drive events. As these
deceptions finally crumble, Leora is provoked into a series of rash choices, culminating in a flamboyant
gesture rejecting her entire social order...and neatly setting up a sequel.
The gorgeous cover, highly original premise, and dramatic climax can't make up for tedious pacing and a
muddled message. (Fantasy. 11-17)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Broadway, Alice: INK." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A512028534/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=169d3009.
QUOTED: "The promising opening chapters do not quite deliver. ... Still, an interesting concept combined with action and intrigue will hook teen readers."
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GA
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1526582871915 4/6
BROADWAY, Alice. Ink
Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser
School Library Journal.
63.11 (Nov. 2017): p80.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
BROADWAY, Alice. Ink. 336p. Scholastic. Jan. 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781338196993.
Gr 6 Up--What if your life's story was tattooed on your body for your whole community to see? In Leora's
world, it is. Citizens are "inked" with tattoos to represent everything from their careers and family trees to
the great joys and sorrows of their lives. When someone dies, his or her life is determined worthy--or not--
by the government assessment of one's ink. If you're worthy, your skin becomes a book, a treasured and
honored keepsake held by your family to remember you. If not, your skin is burned, your stories lost
forever. The death of Leora's father still hangs heavily over what should be a joyful time--graduation, being
assigned a prestigious career. As her father's trial comes nearer, Leora learns a terrible secret that might ruin
her father's legacy and change her life forever. The promising opening chapters do not quite deliver. Leora
believably grieves her father's death while questioning herself and deeply held societal beliefs, but other
characters and story lines feel inconsistent. Few characters can accurately "read" ink--that is, see the story
behind the tattoo--making the premise of a society without secrets somewhat perplexing. Still, an interesting
concept combined with action and intrigue will hook teen readers. VERDICT Purchase where lighter
dystopia and realistic science fiction are popular.--Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, St. Paul Public Library
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Johnson-Kaiser, Kelsey. "BROADWAY, Alice. Ink." School Library Journal, Nov. 2017, p. 80. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A513759646/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6d509fa8. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A513759646
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Broadway, Alice: Ink
Elizabeth Finlayson
School Librarian.
65.2 (Summer 2017): p125.
COPYRIGHT 2017 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Full Text:
Broadway, Alice
Ink
Scholastic, 2017, pp390, 7.99 [pounds sterling] 978 1 40717 284 2
If one were to read the Acknowledgements at the end of this book, before reading the novel itself, one
might well decide to proceed no further. Here the style is not impressive--very informal in tone, somewhat
immature and at times hyperbolic. In the text itself, however, we find a quite different prose style. The
heroine presents her narrative in formal, reflective language. Her name is Leora and the world she is born
into is eerie, atmospheric and bizarre. At birth each individual's name is tattooed on to his or her flesh.
Everything the person does in life is recorded in further tattoos which are finally removed at the time of
death and made into a Skin Book, as a testament--hopefully--to a good life.
The novel opens with a very moving account of the death of Leora's father. Underlying the practices of this
strange religion, we find a most perceptive account of the initial stages of loss and bereavement. One feels
that it must have been based on personal experience. Leora is confident that her father's Book will be an
account of a good life, that he would consequently live forever and never be forgotten. Sadly the opposite
happens and her father's body is found to be marked with a crow--the clear indication that he has not lived a
good life and will be consigned to oblivion. Leora feels that she has never known her father and embarks on
a mission to find the truth about her family. A longish read, this is a book for every girl who has lost a
dearly loved father--and there must be many of us.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Finlayson, Elizabeth. "Broadway, Alice: Ink." School Librarian, Summer 2017, p. 125. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499578012/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9b4ad2b7.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499578012
QUOTED: "If you are looking for the next big dystopian YA series then this may be it."
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Broadway, Alice: Ink
Cassie Kemp
School Librarian.
65.1 (Spring 2017): p61+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Full Text:
Broadway, Alice
Ink
Scholastic, 2017, pp390, 7.99 [pounds sterling]
978 1 40717 284 2
Imagine a world where every detail of your life is permanently inked onto your skin; where every
accomplishment and every failure is displayed on your body for all to see. This custom is followed devoutly
in the society that Leora Flint belongs to and has, until recently, had every faith in.
Before his death Leora's father was a well-respected man both in the community and at home; his faith was
strong and his soul was pure- or so they thought ... After his death some uncomfortable truths are revealed
and Leora must stop him becoming one of the Forgotten.
This first instalment in the trilogy sees Leora struggle to come to terms with the revelations about her father
and battle against her own beliefs to try and preserve his memory, dignity and reputation. In doing so she
begins to see the cracks in the strictly pious society she has grown up in and starts to question whether or
not she truly belongs in such a world, and whether living your life as an open book is truly the safest way to
live.
Ink has echoes of the Veronica Roth's Divergent series combined with the cult lifestyle as seen in Lisa
Heathfield's Seed If you are looking for the next big dystopian YA series then this may be it!
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Kemp, Cassie. "Broadway, Alice: Ink." School Librarian, Spring 2017, p. 61+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490821412/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1c60f849.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490821412
QUOTED: "There's political intrigue and skulduggery, a young girl taken out of her comfort zone, conflict, sabotage, rebellion, double-dealing, betrayal, redemption, murder, acts of heroism and acts of war. It's well worth a read. ... Spark is a very thought provoking book."
"she keeps you turning pages even when very little seems to be happening. Every page teases you expertly onto the next, each page gently building towards the cliff hanger of an ending that isn't happy with just one twist."
Review: "Spark" By Alice Broadway
24/4/2018 0 Comments
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"Spark" the follow up to the award winning "Ink" by Alice Broadway.
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Alice Broadway; Writing books, winning awards and drinking tea.
A little over a year ago Ink inspired me to write my first ever book review so I've been champing at the bit to get my hands on the follow up and I wasn't disappointed. That said, it's taken me longer to work out how to review it than it did to read it.
If you've read Ink (and if you haven't why haven't you?!) you'll know about Leora Flint, the confused teen-aged, tattoo prodigy and her struggles with faith, trust, friendship, a quietly oppressive government and her own somewhat shrouded heritage. Leora has a lot on her plate, right now. In Spark (and I'll try not to spoil things too much) these struggles continue and when I say continue, I mean "get worse".
We resume to find Leora tramping through the woods, she knows where she's going but she doesn't know where it is.
Of course, I could tell you where she's going but that would spoil it. In fact there isn't too much I can tell you about Spark without spoiling something so.....hmmmmm. What do I say?
There's political intrigue and skulduggery, a young girl taken out of her comfort zone, conflict, sabotage, rebellion, double-dealing, betrayal, redemption, murder, acts of heroism and acts of war. It's well worth a read, that much I will say.
Spark is a very thought provoking book, at different parts of the book I was put in mind of Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Soul of a Butterfly, by Muhammad and Hana Ali, without the book ever directly being remotely similar to any of them.
Alice Broadway's "slow burning" style reminded me of The Picture of Dorian Gray (a book I love) in that she keeps you turning pages even when very little seems to be happening. Every page teases you expertly onto the next, each page gently building towards the cliff hanger of an ending that isn't happy with just one twist.
There is no need for an all action, break necked pace here. Leora is still growing as a person, still developing, still learning that every story has more than one side. Of course, Alice could have given us more action, certain events within the book could have been given more graphic detail but I feel had she done this we would could have lost sight about what this book is really about, or at least what I believe it's really about.
Leora is a teenager and while she may be physically mature and artistically gifted she is still just a child, in need of guidance. As we discovered in Ink, her father has died, her mother isn't actually her mother and she's desperate to find out about the woman who did bring her into the world. Leora is naive and pliable, easily manipulated and exploited. She yearns to fit in, to belong. This is just a young girl, trying to find her place in the world but has no idea who to trust in helping her find that place and she inevitably makes mistakes along the way.
In addition to all of these quite normal teen emotions, she finds that the belief system that has moulded her opinions is fundamentally flawed, the fabled heroes of the stories she was raised with are the villains of ever so similar yet strikingly different stories told elsewhere. While Leora struggles with her evaluation of the faith she grew up in and begins to wonder if this new version of events might be more suited, she finds that this new belief system is also flawed.
Is everyone following their own version of the same thing, as Muhammad Ali believed? Was there a moment when, just as there was in The Life of Brian, a small event that caused a massive shift in belief? Was it something as simple as Brian Cohen giving away a gourd or losing a shoe that caused the people in Leora's world to follow the way of the Marked or the Blanks? Should they all do as Spike Milligan did, after Brian Cohen's followers went their separate ways, and just wander off to find their own truth?
Many of the stories told by the Blanks and the Marked lean on well known fairy stories, maybe that in itself is part of the dilemma for all of us. Is religion the truth or is it just a collection of fairy stories packaged as the truth? I don't know and neither does Leora Flint.
Am I just reading too much into what is, after all, "just" a book for young adults?
Ink and Spark are in someways representative of this debate, they are the same story but they are not the same. When I reviewed Ink, I called it a, "very clever book", Spark is no less intelligent but it is far more thought provoking than it's predecessor, yet Alice Broadway has managed to provoke thought without forcing the idea that you should think down your throat.
That's a pretty neat trick, if you ask me.
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You can get Ink and Spark via my Amazon affiliate links above. Go, on....treat yourself.
QUOTED: "In a climate of misinformation and prejudice, these themes have never been more relevant."
"The ending is explosive. ... Alice Broadway is a major-talent and she has created a fascinating world."
Review: Spark by Alice Broadway
April 26, 2018bookmurmuration
sparkbannerimg_5281
Extract:
‘Tell her – and tell her clearly – that if you are not for us, you are against us. She will go to Featherstone, and she will do what she is told, or her friends here will suffer’
(Spark by Alice Broadway. P24.)
birdSynopsis:
The events of Ink left Leora questioning everything she thought she knew about herself and her community. As someone who is half-marked/half-blank, can she continue to live in the Marked community of Saintstone?
Leora is sent by Mayor Longsight to gather information on the Blanks. This takes her outside of Saintstone and puts her in touch with the community her birth-mother belonged to. Leora learns a new set of rituals and stories while she searches for information about her birth-mother.
Will she find safety there? As events unfold, Leora must work out where the threat is coming from.
birdReview:
Spark continues the story where Ink left off and takes us into the wider world and the blank community. For those of you who are not familiar with the series, it is set in a world where some people’s bodies are covered with tattoo-like marks. These marks detail a person’s history: their age and occupation and rites of passage. In Saintstone, people are deeply suspicious of anyone without marks. This fear is exacerbated by religious stories and a corrupt political regime.
In Ink we learned the stories of Saintstone. The Blank community has a contrasting set of stories. The same characters and events take place, but the stories have different themes and outcomes. I love this exploration of storytelling. How theme begins with the storyteller’s opinions. As much as I loved Spark itself, my favourite part was the way it reshaped what we thought we knew.
Leora’s issues are so relatable. She is trying to figure out where she belongs, and she has also realised that one person’s truth may be nothing like another’s. Young people try to form their own opinions, but they are surrounded by adults who sincerely believe their own version of events. Leora has a lot of internal conflicts, which demonstrates that brave heroines don’t have to be full of action.
I also love the theme of political corruption. Even in a community where truth is the watch-word, it turns out that ‘truth’ has a smaller voice than ‘power’. This is a bitter-truth which many of us learn the hard way. It can also be liberating to understand this – that just because someone has the status to come out on top, it doesn’t mean they were correct or even honest. In a climate of misinformation and prejudice, these themes have never been more relevant.
The ending is explosive. I’m counting down for the next installment. Alice Broadway is a major-talent and she has created a fascinating world.
Huge thanks to Scholastic UK for my copy of Spark. Opinions my own.