Shadow

Matt is a 14-year-old boy from Manchester. His best friend is Aman, and he is also close to his grandfather, whom he calls Grandpa. Matt and Aman share a love of soccer and Monopoly, though Aman is better than Matt at both. Matt cares deeply for Grandpa and spends a lot of time with him to help him feel less lonely after his grandmother’s death. Matt also has a close bond with Dog, Grandpa’s old spaniel, whom Matt named when he was young.

Matt sets off the events of the novel by telling Grandpa about the unfair treatment that Aman and his mother have suffered. Though Aman is from Afghanistan, Matt knows that he is just as English as he is: Aman belongs in Manchester, and Matt is upset by the injustice of his looming deportation. Knowing that Grandpa has a strong sense of justice as a former journalist, Matt encourages him to visit Aman at Yarl’s Wood. When he learns Aman’s whole backstory from Grandpa, Matt is initially hurt that his best friend withheld so much about his life in Afghanistan. However, this is quickly replaced by a deeper indignation at the way the British government has treated Aman and his mother after all the danger and torment they suffered at the hands of the Taliban. 

Matt encourages Grandpa to write the article that ultimately helps free Aman and lays the groundwork for the protest outside Yarl’s Wood. During this stressful time, Matt holds onto Aman’s silver star badge as a talisman of good luck. Matt’s emotions swell with the growing crowd and dampen when the rain and the police threaten to shut down the protest. However, Matt is overjoyed when he is reunited with Aman at the end of the novel. He is filled with a deep sense of pride that he helped avert a great injustice against his best friend.

Matt’s grandfather, who is referred to as Grandpa, is one of the novel’s three narrators and principal characters. On the surface, Grandpa is a stubborn old man—his family knows that he does not change his mind once he has made it up. He is somewhat pessimistic and is prone to doubting himself. His negative demeanor is partially due to the recent death of his wife. Her memory is both a source of sorrow and inspiration for Grandpa. In her absence, his relationship with Matt has deepened. Grandpa also cares deeply for his aging spaniel, Dog, and Grandma’s cherry tree, which are reminders of happier times.

Grandpa was a journalist before he retired. Though he is out of practice, his innate curiosity and journalistic mind allow him to take on the role of saving Aman and his mother from deportation. At Matt’s prompting, Grandpa visits Aman and his mother in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. Aman’s heart-wrenching story awakens Grandpa’s journalistic curiosity and deep desire for justice. Motivated by a deep feeling of sympathy for Aman’s unjust imprisonment, and spurred on by Matt, Grandpa writes an article about Aman’s plight for his old newspaper. The article makes the front page, proving that he is still a capable journalist. It reaches a sympathetic public and even Sergeant Brodie, who is able to speak with the minister and halt Aman and his mother’s deportation.

Sergeant Brodie is an English military officer who is stationed in Afghanistan and deployed with an explosive detection unit. Sergeant Brodie was Shadow’s handler, though the springer spaniel’s name was actually Polly. Aman and Shadow alert Sergeant Brodie and his unit to the presence of a hidden IED, potentially saving many lives. Brodie takes an immediate liking to Aman, hailing him as a hero and treating him like a friend as Aman recuperates from a foot injury on base. He gives Aman his regiment’s badge, a silver star, and promises Aman that he will be there for him in England.

After Aman and his mother make it to England, Aman writes to Sergeant Brodie, hoping to visit him and Shadow, but he never receives a reply. He writes again, asking for help after he and his mother are taken to Yarl’s Wood, but again receives no response. Aman’s faith in the sergeant, who was like a hero to him, is shaken. However, Brodie hears of Aman’s plight through the article that Grandpa writes. He uses his connections to speak to the minister, who stops Aman’s deportation just in time. Brodie arrives at the protest that Matt and Grandpa organized and explains the reason for his silence: He was badly injured in an explosion during his deployment since Shadow was not there to warn him of the IED’s presence. The incident cost Brodie an arm, a leg, and his eyesight. Shadow has been his seeing-eye dog ever since.