Teen Book Review: Night Vision

Night Vision. Ella West

Ella West’s latest book, winner of the Young Adult section of the LIANZA Awards, as well as the Young Adult Children’s Choice winner in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, starts with an intriguing premise. Imagine your life was turned on its head and you could only survive by living your life in the dark.

Viola is an ordinary girl with an extraordinary condition. She has Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), and the light of the sun is enough to kill her. She believes she will die young, and is determined to live as full a life as she can. She spends her days sleeping, and is awake only during the night when it’s safe for her to venture outside. Unlike many of us, the dark holds no fears for Viola as she wanders the forestry block surrounding her parents’ sheep farm, wearing her night-vision goggles and watching the nocturnal world. Her loving parents are content to let her have her freedom, believing the forest a haven for their daughter. And so it is until a stranger brings violence to Viola’s small world, and she is forced to keep a terrible secret.

If you enjoy having the hairs on the back of your neck lifted, this is the book for you. Ella West’s book is fast-paced and full of tension, as the rug is systematically pulled from beneath Viola’s feet. You almost rail at the unfairness of her situation – hasn’t life dealt her enough bad luck? But what I enjoyed most about the novel is that Ella has not written a story about a victim – Viola is strong and resourceful beyond her years, in spite of her health or maybe because of it. And this makes for an incredibly exciting finale.

Kay Mercer
Events Coordinator