About The Book
This evocative collection of short stories gives a clear insight into the experiences which lie behind David Almond’s novels: the memories of a Tyneside childhood, the tragedies and happiness of his loving family and the ordinary and extraordinary people who shared his home village.
He also explores his Catholic upbringing, which provides a backdrop to all the events of his childhood, and the way he alternately embraces and rejects his religion as he grows up.
The darker side of life, in the shape of his mother’s arthritis, and the deaths of his little sister Barbara and his father, are also movingly related. All of the stories, some of which are very short, are full of the desultory, fanciful and bizarre conversations imaginative children have with each other. This is another superb offering from a talented, original and award-winning author.
About The Author
David Almond is the highly acclaimed author of Skellig, The Savage, Clay, My Name Is Mina, My Dad’s a Birdman, Slog’s Dad and many other novels, stories and plays. His books are translated into almost forty languages and are widely adapted for stage and screen. His numerous awards include the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbread Children’s Book Awards and Le Prix Sorcieres, and in 2010 he gained the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international prize for children’s authors. David lives with his family in Hexham, Northumberland.
