Every week until the end of August we are going to be looking at one of the books on the Guardian children's fiction prize longlist. This week it's Candy Gourlay's Shine.

What's the book about?

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Rosa suffers from a rare condition that renders her mute. She lives on the strange island of Mirasol where the rain never seems to stop. Mirasol's superstitious population shun people who suffer from Rosa's condition, believing them to be monsters. Rosa must live hidden away in an isolated house with only the internet for a social life.

But Rosa has no desire to leave Mirasol. This is where her mother died and every night she lights a candle on the windowsill. The islanders believe this is the way to summon ghosts, and Rosa wants her mother back.

One day she is befriended by a boy online who calls himself Ansel95 – and she quickly realizes that this is one friendship that can take place in the real world. Can she really trust him? What does he want from her?

And then Mother turns up at the front door.

Now watch this!

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Find out more about Candy Gourlay and her books

Children's book author Philip Ardagh loved Shine – in his review, he wrote: "The characters, the situations and the way of telling blend to create such a satisfying whole that it's hard to envisage any of [Shine] being any other way."

Candy also wrote Tall Story, about a short girl called Andi who has big dreams. Site member lilybelle enjoyed it and wrote in their review, "What this book tells you is that there is no such thing as too tall or too small."

Candy has also braved a Guardian children's books quickfire Q&A interview – watch that below!

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And now… write your review!

The Guardian young critics competition is for all young readers to share their views on any of the longlisted books. Anyone aged 17 or under can enter by writing a review of no more than 200 words of one of the books longlisted for the prize. Individuals or school/library classes/bookgroups can enter and there are great prizes to be won including all the longlisted books. You can find out more and enter the competition here.

Find out more about the Guardian children's fiction prize book club and all the other authors we're going to be talking about over the summer. Next week… E Lockhart on her book We Were Liars.