PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Leila lives in London with her aunt and cousin, while her mother lives in Tromso where she studies the effects of climate change on Arctic fauna. One of her projects is tracking an Arctic fox, and when Leila is finally brought to Norway to see her mother after six years apart, she finds herself swept up on an expedition. Leila feels unwanted, and confused and angry by her mother's seeming indifference. As the story progresses Leila identifies with the blue vixen as they are both searching for a place to settle beyond the bad memories of their pasts. Splendid illustrations enhance the text, which deals sensitively with difficult topics - forced migration, melting ice-caps, broken families - and yet ultimately offers a sense of hope and home. Lindy
Come with an Arctic fox on a breathtaking journey ... an enthralling story from the bestselling, award-winning creators of Julia and the Shark. With dazzling blue and black illustrations and presented as a deluxe hardback with tracing paper inserts, this is a perfect gift for 9+ fans of The Last Bear and A Wolf Called Wander.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston met in 2009, when Kiran was a student and Tom was artist-in-residence at Cambridge University. They have been a couple and collaborators ever since, but Julia and the Shark is their first novel together. Kiran is the award-winning, bestselling author of stories including The Girl of Ink & Stars, The Way Past Winter, and The Deathless Girls, and Tom is making his illustrative debut having worked as an acclaimed artist for many years. They live in Oxford with their cats Luna and Marly, in a house between a river and a forest.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Leila lives in London with her aunt and cousin, while her mother lives in Tromso where she studies the effects of climate change on Arctic fauna. One of her projects is tracking an Arctic fox, and when Leila is finally brought to Norway to see her mother after six years apart, she finds herself swept up on an expedition. Leila feels unwanted, and confused and angry by her mother's seeming indifference. As the story progresses Leila identifies with the blue vixen as they are both searching for a place to settle beyond the bad memories of their pasts. Splendid illustrations enhance the text, which deals sensitively with difficult topics - forced migration, melting ice-caps, broken families - and yet ultimately offers a sense of hope and home. Lindy
Beautiful and moving, LEILA AND THE BLUE FOX delicately explores themes of migration, freedom and belonging, through a captivating tale that glistens with wonder. Leila and Fox will always have a home in my heart * Sophie Anderson *
