behind the sky
Will be published approx. on 1. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-917718-36-3 (ISBN)
Description
Sixteen-year-old Deian wants to be something that doesn't exist: normal. He wants to feel things in the same way as everyone else, to ride the school bus without having a panic attack, to have real conversations with real friends and not imagined ones with dead artists.
Seventeen-year-old Anest has long abandoned her quest for normality. She doesn't think she deserves to be here on this doomed planet, so doesn't really care if everyone else thinks she's weird and obnoxious (well, maybe everyone apart from that girl she can't stop staring at in group therapy).
The two very different LGBTQIA+ teens meet at a psychiatric facility, but their friendship doesn't really take off until they find themselves stuck in the same toilet stall at a birthday party. They support each other unfailingly, but they're unable to turn that same affection towards themselves and continue to grapple with the self-hatred that threatens to drown them.
Can Anest and Deian find a way to free themselves from the weight of normality and - together - realise that an entire sky of possibilities is waiting for them?
Seventeen-year-old Anest has long abandoned her quest for normality. She doesn't think she deserves to be here on this doomed planet, so doesn't really care if everyone else thinks she's weird and obnoxious (well, maybe everyone apart from that girl she can't stop staring at in group therapy).
The two very different LGBTQIA+ teens meet at a psychiatric facility, but their friendship doesn't really take off until they find themselves stuck in the same toilet stall at a birthday party. They support each other unfailingly, but they're unable to turn that same affection towards themselves and continue to grapple with the self-hatred that threatens to drown them.
Can Anest and Deian find a way to free themselves from the weight of normality and - together - realise that an entire sky of possibilities is waiting for them?
Reviews / Votes
'The best, most powerful novel I've read in years. A masterpiece.' -- Manon Steffan RosMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cardiff
United Kingdom
Target group
Young adult
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-917718-36-3 (9781917718363)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Megan Angharad Hunter is an author and screenwriter from Penygroes, Dyffryn Nantlle, in North Wales, now based in Cardiff. She studied Welsh and Philosophy at Cardiff University, graduating in 2022. During her studies, she became the youngest-ever winner of the Wales Book of the Year Award when her Welsh-language debut, tu ol i'r awyr, won in 2021. behind the sky is an adaptation of that novel, and is Megan's first published work in her second language, English. Megan has won the Tir na n-Og Welsh children's book award three times and has been shortlisted for the Wales Books of the Year award twice in the children's category. She has edited two anthologies that celebrate the Welsh LGBTQIA+ and disabled communities: Young Welsh Proud and Beyond/Tu Hwnt. In recent years, she has appeared in literary events worldwide, including the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters in India, the Slovene Book Fair and Hay Festival. A proud member of the LGBTQ+ and Disabled communities, Megan's current focus is creating characters - like Anest and Deian - who might provide comfort and community for isolated young people.