The award-winning, best-selling author
The Seamaiden’s Odyssey
NEW BOOK PUBLISHED 5 SEPTEMBER 2014!
The Seamaiden’s Odyssey
A strange and beautiful sea creature is held in captivity. If she tells the amazing story of her family history, will she be released to her ocean home?Published 5 September 2024
Granny Was a Buffer Girl
NEW EDITION OUT NOW!
Granny Was a Buffer Girl is set in industrial Sheffield from the 1930s to the 1980s. Three generations of Jess’s family tell her the heart-breaking and funny family stories and romances that bind them together. 11+ Carnegie medal, Boston Globe-Horn Honor.
Children of Winter
NEW EDITION OUT NOW!
Children of Winter is a historical time-slip novel set in the Derbyshire village of Eyam. Three siblings have to survive alone in a barn during the Great Plague of 1666. They long to know what is happening down in their village. Must they stay away?
Virtual school visits
Welcome to a new school year!
Ever since the pandemic I have frequently visited schools and universities all over the world by the magic of Zoom and similar video conferencing apps. I’m very pleased to say that I’ll be continuing to do so this coming school year. The way it works is that the school or college hosts the event. I spend about 40 minutes with the students, usually talking about the book they’ve been studying in class, my inspiration for it, answering questions and sometimes sharing some of the students’ own work. It’s always a lovely way to share ideas, and it’s wonderful to see how enthusiastic the children and teachers are.
I don’t ask for a fee as such, but I do suggest that participating hosts buy some of my books for classroom or library use, or prizes etc, from whatever supplier they choose.
The current calendar year has been very busy! I‘ve already made virtual visits to many schools and reading groups to talk about a variety of books at the schools’ request. The most frequently asked for titles have been Street Child and The Haunted Hills – in equal numbers – followed by Treason, Children of Winter, Blue John, Daughter of the Sea, Far From Home, Walking on Air and Tilly Mint Tales!
To contact me, visit my contact page.
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New book The Seamaiden’s Odyssey
Event appearances March 2024
The art of writing picture books – interview with Caryl Hart
Sophie Anderson on The Snow Girl and Slavic folk stories
Most popular pages and posts in the last 30 days
- About me
- Street Child – the bestselling novel
- Lightlark by Alex Aster – a BookTok sensation!
- The Three Princes – my retelling of a Persian folk-tale
- Writing ghost stories
- Treason – my Tudor novel
- Jim Jarvis meets Dr Barnardo
- Children of Winter – my novel about the Plague in Eyam
- Dear Nobody – the Carnegie-winning young adults’ novel
- Far From Home: The Sisters of Street Child
Main photo: Richard Harland Photography