Sometimes a book comes along that stops you in your tracks. A book that makes you put it down for a moment, stare into space and think about the world, and the people in it, in a slightly different way.

And the Stars Were Burning Brightly is one of those books.

In fact, this is a book for which the word WOW was invented.

I don't use that word lightly. There are plenty of books that I enjoy, some that I really like and the occasional one that I absolutely love. Then there are books that grab you by the emotional collar and drag you through the wringer before throwing you out the other side, slightly battered but somehow feeling better for the experience.

This book did exactly that.

It is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story that left me feeling pain, anger, sadness and, eventually, hope. Quite an emotional workout for a book. By the end I felt as though I needed a cup of tea, a lie down and possibly a small lie in a darkened room.

The story follows Nathan and Megan as they try to understand why Nathan's brother, Al, took his own life.

Nobody can quite believe that Al would do such a thing. To those around him, he seemed to be a normal teenager. But as Nathan and Megan begin to look beneath the surface, they slowly discover that Al had been living a very different life from the one they thought they knew.

And that is where the real power of this story lies.

We gradually begin to see the torment Al had been experiencing. The things that had been happening to him. The pain he had kept hidden. The terrible burden he had been carrying while those around him remained unaware of just how much he was suffering.

Nathan, understandably, blames himself.

That guilt begins to consume him.

As he tries to understand what happened to his brother, events around him begin to unravel. Friendships that once seemed solid start to look very different. People he thought he could trust become questionable, and Nathan and Megan find themselves asking who they can actually believe.

The more they discover, the more uncomfortable the truth becomes.

This isn't an easy book to read.

And yet I couldn't stop reading it.

I read it in a day.

One of those strange days when time seems to disappear. You start reading in the morning, look up and discover it is somehow afternoon, then tell yourself you will stop after the next chapter. Of course, the next chapter becomes another next chapter, and suddenly the rest of the world has been politely told to wait.

Danielle Jawando's writing completely pulled me into the story. She made me experience the pain of Nathan and Al in a way that felt incredibly real. The story walks an emotional knife edge, and as a reader you are right there beside the characters, feeling the fear, confusion, anger and heartbreak.

There were moments when I felt tears coming.

There were moments when I was angry at the actions of some of the characters.

And there were moments when I simply wanted to reach into the book and shake somebody.

Which, sadly, isn't an option available to readers. I checked.

The story deals with some incredibly difficult subjects, including teenage suicide, bullying, depression and the damaging effects that social media can have. These are not easy subjects to write about, particularly in a book aimed at young people, but Danielle Jawando handles them with tremendous sensitivity and honesty.

Social media is often presented as a wonderful way of connecting people. And it can be. But this book shows the darker side of it, the way words typed on a screen can cause real pain to a real person. Behind every account, every photograph and every comment is somebody with feelings, fears and vulnerabilities.

What happens online doesn't necessarily stay online.

The consequences can follow someone into every part of their life.

That message comes through powerfully without the book ever becoming preachy. Instead, it tells a story and allows us to experience the consequences through its characters.

And that is what makes it so effective.

At its heart, this is a story about grief.

About guilt.

About friendship.

About the things we hide from one another and the things we sometimes fail to see.

But it is also about hope.

And that is important.

Because despite everything that happens, this isn't simply a book about despair. There is light here. The final part of the story brought tears to my eyes, but these were tears of a very different kind. After everything Nathan and the other characters had been through, there was finally a sense of hope.

It didn't erase the pain.

It didn't magically make everything better.

But it showed that even after the darkest moments, there can still be a way forward.

And I found that incredibly moving.

And the Stars Were Burning Brightly is one of those books that I think should be widely read, particularly by young people. But I wouldn't restrict it to that audience. Adults should read it too. Sometimes we need reminding that the problems young people face today can be enormous, and that what might appear to be a small thing to an adult can feel like the entire world to a teenager.

Most importantly, I hope this book reaches anyone who is struggling with depression, loneliness or despair. I hope it helps them understand that they are not alone. I hope it helps them realise that other people care, even when it doesn't always feel that way.

Perhaps that is the greatest thing this book achieves.

It doesn't simply tell us what happens when somebody is suffering. It makes us feel the consequences of not seeing that suffering.

It reminds us to look beyond the smile, beyond the social media post, beyond the casual "I'm fine".

Sometimes, perhaps, we should ask twice.

And then actually listen.

Because we never really know what is happening inside another person's head. The person laughing with their friends could be hurting. The person sitting quietly at the back of the room could be screaming for help without making a sound. And the person who says everything is fine might desperately want somebody to prove them wrong.

I finished this book with tears in my eyes.

Not just because of what had happened to Al, or what Nathan had been forced to endure, but because of what the story says about all of us. About how easily we can miss the signs. About how words can wound. About how friendship can fail, but also how it can save.

And perhaps most importantly, about hope.

Because sometimes hope isn't a great blazing light that suddenly illuminates everything.

Sometimes it is just a tiny glow in the darkness.

But when you are lost in that darkness, even the smallest light can show you which way to go.

And the Stars Were Burning Brightly gave me that little light.

It broke my heart, made me angry, made me cry and, finally, gave me hope.

There aren't many books that can do all that in a single day.

WOW doesn't quite cover it.