The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros

Oh my heart! The Blue Book of Nebo is one of those books that you enter into reading thinking it is going to be a light hearted story about a mother and son, who live in rural Wales, surviving off the land BUT (and it’s a big but) you get so much more.

The Blue Book of Nebo is told from two points of view; Dylan, who is about 6 when The End comes, and his mother Rowenna, who keeps everything close to her chest. The story is told through a series of diary like entries written from both main characters as they write down their thoughts and feelings about the world around them. Throughout the story, you are drip-fed tidbits of information about the The End and life before it happened from Rowenna while Dylan writes about life now, after The End.

The underlying storyline is that around 2018, nuclear bombs were dropped across the globe. The power went out and humanity crumbled but Dylan and his mother found sanctuary in the house they lived in just outside Nebo, a small village outside Caernarfon. With screens and modern amenities stripped away, those that are left had to adapt to a way of life that was lost to the ages.

It was heart warming to see how Dylan matured through the book both in his eyes and those of his mother. He learns how to be the version of himself that he wants to be without the pressures of the old society. He is kind, caring and gentle with everyone around him and when obstacles are thrown in his path, he tackles them head on instead of shying away. Dylan sees the world as the norm because he was only young when The End arrived so the world around him is the only thing he has really known. His mother on the other hand seems to yearn for some of the old ways of before The End when she writes. She looks at the world as it is and compares it a lot to how it used to be. When things start to go wrong in their lives, Rowenna hides her emotions behind a steely expression and buries everything she feels deep down. It’s a very interesting narrative when the two are writing contrasting views; Dylan writing about how easy it was to set up poly tunnels and forage for food while his mother talks about how hard it has been for her to adapt.

There are two poignant points in the story that really gripped me and gave me all the feelings under the rainbow. It felt heartwarming to see the gentle nature of Dylan and how this transformed as he grew older , free from the expectation of society but then I was close to tears when Dylan experienced his first real loss, something Rowenna had tried to shield him from.

The Blue Book of Nebo is a hard hitting story that deals with a changing world, religion, identity and family dynamics all while the world is falling apart around the characters. It would be very interesting to see what would happen next based upon where the story finished.