This is a novel of unexpected interruptions, moving breathlessly from one surprise to another: the reader is helpless to do anything but turn the pages. The historical events of the novel, too, were unfamiliar to me and linger now in dark images, immovable as blood stains. It’s set far from anything I’ve read before: a secluded Filipino village at the end of the nineteenth century, high in the mountains and surrounded by forests, rice paddies and encroaching enemies. It’s two weeks since I read it, but the world delineated by Gourlay in this, her fourth book for young readers, is still vivid in my mind. Speaking of which, let me commend to you the novel Bone Talkby Candy Gourlay. We can all meet in the Impossible Library’s entirely imaginary upper room (so long as it’s not the night I hire it out to tango practitioners or the Susan Sontag Memorial Movie Club), drink gin and giddily present our favourites. I can do this – and so can you! Let’s treat ourselves to (what feels like) an exceptionally strong list of titles. Over the years I’ve tried to read the shortlist in this window and valiantly failed, but even making the attempt is not just educational but somewhat celebratory. Voted for by librarians, the judging panel’s shortlist came out about a month ago and the winner is decided in June. I thought it would be good to kick off my new blog by talking about the CILIP Carnegie Medal: the longest-running and perhaps most esteemed literary award for children’s writing in the UK.
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