Dev Kothari Books

Winner of the Commonword Diversity YA novel in 2018, Dev Kothari brings us her much anticipated, debut novel bringing to life her experience of growing up in a small village outside of Mumbai.

Aimed at the middle-grade market but equally compelling for older years too, Kothari has artfully created a gripping mystery story interwoven with a narrative that leaves you simultaneously fearing for and cheering on the main characters.

Lena has grown up in the shadow of her older brother, Kay-Kay, always feeling second-best at school and at home but, when KayKay goes missing, Lena realises just how much her brother has always been there for her and vows to help find him.

Bringing back Kay-Kay is a story of love – for India, for family and sometimes even for those who seem least deserving. Touching on the true-life, shocking statistics of missing children in India, as well as some quite difficult issues, such as depression, poverty and runaways, this story is most suitable for UKS2 and beyond. Suitable as a class read or as a good quality library addition.