Episode 140: When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry

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Today, Fable and the Verbivore are delighted to share our May book club conversation on Emily Henry’s delightful, gripping, and heart-delving When the Sky Fell on Splendor.

A mysterious YA speculative adventure story about a group of misfit high school friends who get caught up in an encounter they can’t explain. It's a book that fans of classic adventure and sci-fi stories like Goonies, E.T., Roswell, and Stranger Things will especially appreciate. But, it's really for any human being who has looked up at the night sky longing for something greater.

In this episode, we talk about how this story feels nostalgic and yet completely original, sometimes even faking out the audience by referencing a sci-fi or speculative story element and then flipping that idea on its head. We also touch on moments that feel like they’re paying homage to films such as Super 8, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and X-files.

We also unpack the emotional core of this story, which centers on a horrific tragedy that touches everyone within the town of Splendor. Each of the teens and adults have experienced some form of loss, these wounds impacting the relationships they have with one another. And every character is grappling or trying to cope with this trauma in their own ways.

As we talked about the story’s end, we dig into how it steps back from life and celebrates its messy beauty - leaning into a moment of wonder and awe. It took our breath away and touched on something vital about the human experience.

We hope you enjoy this episode. Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Fable mentions that she’s read all of author Emily Henry’s books, except the one that was co-written and her release that comes out May ‘22. Here are those titles in order of publication:

• The Love That Split the World (2016)

• A Million Junes (2017)

• When the Sky Fell on Splendor (2019)

• Hello Girls with Brittany Cavallaro (2019)

• Beach Reads (2020)

• People We Meet on Vacation (2021)

• Book Lovers (2022)

Fable reads a quote from the book. Here is that quote:

• “There were still pieces of us we so badly wished each other could see and yet couldn't make ourselves ask for, and there was anger and resentment and it still all hurt, but right now, we were here, and if we stayed long enough, things might start to heal, even a little bit.”

  ― When the Sky Fell on Splendor

Books and Movies Mentioned:

• When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry

• Beach Reads by Emily Henry

• People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

• Book Lovers by Emily Henry

• The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry

• A Million Junes by Emily Henry

• Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro, Emily Henry

• Goonies - Directed by Richard Donner

• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – Directed by Steven Spielberg

• Roswell: Complete Series (Seasons 1-3)

• Stranger Things: The Complete First Season

• Signs – Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Directed by Steven Spielberg

• X-files: Season 1

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)