Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

Image: Candlewick Press

A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat. Unabridged audiobook on one MP3 CD. ~10 hours, 40 minutes. Read by Greta Jung. Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, March, 2020. 9781799731316. (Review of purchased audiobook on MP3 CD.)

Happy Monday! I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend. My Christmas Eve plans were dashed by a Covid exposure, which was sad. My youngest son came from the Boston area with his fiancé and my third son came out two weekends ago when his place of work went back to fully remote. I had some company to help me through another "first."

Middle Grade Monday features A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat. Pong lives in a prison in Chattana, a city in Thailand where the governor rules with an iron fist. He brought the city into the light after a great fire destroyed it, but there is light for just a privileged few. Pong's mother had been imprisoned for stealing food. She died, but Pong will remain in prison until his thirteenth birthday. He and his best friend and fellow orphan, Somkit, try to protect each other from bullies and dream about life once they are released. When the opportunity to escape presents itself, Pong escapes alone. The prison warden loses his job due to Pong's escape and his "perfect" daughter, Nok vows to hunt him down. 

This paltry summary does not do justice to this layered, epic adventure filled with fascinating and complex characters. There's humor and tragedy (I cried) and a myriad of emotions in between. Chattana and its surroundings spring vividly to life as Pong attempts to make his way to freedom, but soon realizes that, thanks to his prison tattoo, his fate may be sealed. There are so many twists and turns and surprises along the way.

The audiobook performance by Greta Jung was well-paced and her voices were distinct and nicely varied. I especially appreciated learning the correct pronunciation of names and other Thai language words that I would've glossed over were I reading with my eyes. 

A Wish in the Dark won a Newbery Honor as well as a Jane Addams Book Award. If you love adventure and fantasy, you will love A Wish in the Dark. Highly recommended!