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April 2024

The Escape Artist

Jonathan Freedland

April 1944. Nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became two of the very first Jews to successfully escape Auschwitz. Evading the thousands of SS men hunting them, Vrba and Wetzler made the perilous journey on foot across Nazi-occupied Poland.

Their mission: to reveal to the world the truth of the Holocaust.

Vrba's unique testimony would save some 200,000 lives.

But he kept on running - from his past, from his home country, his adopted country, even from his own name. Now, at last, Rudolf Vrba's heroism can be known.

Different for Boys

Patrick Ness

A poignant and moving LGBTQ+ story that explores sexuality and masculinity with a touch of humour, by twice Carnegie Medal-winner and bestselling author Patrick Ness.Ant Stevenson has many questions, like when did he stop being a virgin? Are there degrees of virginity? And is it different for boys? Especially for boys who like boys? Ant tries to figure out the answers to his questions as he balances his relationships with three very different boys: Charlie, who is both virulently homophobic and yet close friends with Ant; Jack, whose camp behaviour makes him the target of Charlie's rage; and finally Freddie, who just wants Ant to try out for the rugby team. From the bestselling author of the Chaos Walking trilogy comes a timely and important story about inclusivity, prejudice and friendship.

March 2024

50 Ways to Score a Goal and Other Football Poems

Brian Bilston

A funny collection of football poems by Brian Bilston, the unofficial Poet Laureate of Twitter. Perfect for football fans of all ages – from the young footie fanatic to a been-to-every-game-grandma, and every 'I could've been a pro' in between.

Full of poems that will make you giggle about all things football, including being left out of the World Cup squad, mum's opinion on Messi vs Ronaldo, or those unmissable fixtures:

I’d love nothing more than to go outside
and spend time with Mother Nature.
But what can I do? It’s out of my hands:
Nigeria are playing Croatia

50 Ways to Score a Goal and Other Football Poems includes witty chants, a haiku or two, and fun shape poems about the beautiful game. Laugh together through the Euros or Premier League games, and swap the half-time pundits for puns!

Where Are You Really From?: Our amazing evolution, what race really is and what makes us human

Adam Rutherford

Go on an extraordinary adventure through millions of years of human history and learn the story of our species from evolution to dinosaurs to YOU!

Along the way, you will meet kings and queens, Pharaohs and Vikings, and see just how far and wide humans have migrated around the world. You'll discover why we're related to a super cheesy man and that no matter what skin colour you have, language you speak or place you are from - we all share the same small pool of ancestors.

Mind-boggling, entertaining and illuminating, this is the epic story of you and everyone who has ever lived!

February 2024

Tyger

SF Said

Adam has found something incredible in a rubbish dump in London. A mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A TYGER. And the tyger is in danger.

Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to help, but it isn't just the tyger's life at stake. Their whole world is on the verge of destruction. Can they learn to use their powers before it's too late?

The Society for Soulless Girls

Laura Steven

Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous North Tower murders at the elite Carvell College of Arts, forcing Carvell to close its doors.

Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless student Lottie is determined to find out what really happened. But when her roommate, Alice, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual hidden in Carvell’s haunted library, the North Tower claims another victim.

Can Lottie uncover the truth before the North Tower strikes again? Can Alice reverse the ritual before her monstrous alter ego consumes her? And can they stop flirting for literally fifteen seconds in order to do this?

Greta's Story

Valentina Camerini

The story of Greta Thunberg, the schoolgirl who inspired a worldwide climate change movement.

It’s 20 August 2018, late summer in Stockholm, and it feels incredibly hot in the city. The TV news reports rising temperatures, and there have been numerous fires throughout Sweden. Fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg decides she can’t wait any longer: politicians have to do something to save the environment. Instead of returning to school, Greta takes a placard and goes on strike in front of Sweden’s parliament building.

Greta’s protest began the Fridays for Future – or School Strike 4 Climate – movement, which millions have now joined around the world. Greta has spoken at COP24, the UN summit on climate change, and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is her story, but also that of many other girls and boys around the world willing to fight against the indifference of the powerful for a better future.

Grow

Luke Palmer

A white supremacist group and its violent leader targets teenage Josh, who is struggling to cope with his father's recent death at the hands of terrorists. Will he find the strength to resist, or will unlikely accomplice Dana help him plant something good in the space grief has left inside him?

December 2023

Heartstopper 5

Alice Osman

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the much-loved HEARTSTOPPER series.

Nick and Charlie are very much in love. They've finally said those three little words, and Charlie has almost persuaded his mum to let him sleep over at Nick's house ... But with Nick going off to university next year, is everything about to change?

The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Grahame

Spring is in the air and Mole has found a wonderful new world. There's boating with Ratty, a feast with Badger and high jinx on the open road with that reckless ruffian Mr Toad of Toad Hall. the four become the firmest of friends, but after Toad's latest escapade, can they join together and beat the wretched weasels?

November 2023

The Summer We Turned Green

William Sutcliffe

It's the summer holidays, and thirteen-year-old Luke's life has been turned upside down. First his older sister Rose moved 'across the road', where a community of climate rebels is protesting the planned airport expansion. Then his dad followed her.

Dad only went to get Rose back, but now he's out there building totem poles, wearing sandals and drinking mead (whatever that is) with the best of them…

Can Luke save his family when all they want to do is save the planet?

Medusa

Jessie Burton

If I told you that I'd killed a man with a glance, would you wait to hear the rest? The why, the how, what happened next?

Monster. Man-hater. Murderess. Forget everything you've been told about Medusa.
Internationally bestselling author Jessie Burton flips the script in this astonishing retelling of Greek myth, illuminating the woman behind the legend at last.

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown apart, unleashing desire, love... and betrayal.

October 2023

The Garbage King

Elizabeth Laird

Inspired by the true story of an African childhood lived on the edge of destitution, award-winning Elizabeth Laird's The Garbage King takes readers on an unforgettable emotional journey.

When Mamo's mother dies, he is abandoned in the shanties of Addis Ababa. Stolen by a child-trafficker and sold to a farmer, he is cruelly treated. Escaping back to the city, he meets another, very different runaway. Dani is rich, educated - and fleeing his tyrannical father. Together they join a gang of homeless street boys who survive only by mutual bonds of trust and total dependence on each other.

Where the light goes

Sara Barnard

A heart-wrenching exploration of grief from a bestselling YA author, set in a landscape corrupted by fame and the scrutiny that comes from living in the shadow of a star.To the world, Lizzie Beck is a superstar: famous, talented and beloved.To Emmy, she is simply Beth: her brilliant older sister, her idol.But then Beth takes her own life, and all the light in the world disappears.Now Emmy is lost. Amidst the media storm and overwhelming public grief, she must fight to save her own memories of her sister - and find out who she is without her.

September 2023

The Chime Seekers

Ross Montgomery

Step into a world of faery tricks and hidden danger....

When an evil faerie steals Yanni’s baby sister and swaps her for a Changeling, Yanni is swept into a dangerous race against time to get her back.

For faeries delight in tricks and rescuing her won’t be easy. With the help of his cousin, Amy, and the reluctant Changeling, Yanni must travel to goblin palaces and battle-swept oceans, discovering ancient treasures and secrets along the way.

Yanni will need every drop of courage and even a few tricks of his own, if he’s to outwit the faerie and save his sister....

That's Not What Happened

Kody Keplinger

Six survived to tell the story, but who knows the truth?

It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story - that she died proclaiming her faith.

But it's not true.

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did - and didn't - happen that day.

Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .

July 2023

The Murderer's Ape

Jakob Wegelius

Sally Jones is an extraordinary gorilla and a brilliant ship's engineer who sails the high seas on The Hudson Queen with her loyal friend the Chief. One day the shipmates are offered a mysterious job that promises to pay big bucks, but then disaster strikes, the job goes wrong and the Chief is falsely convicted of murder.

For Sally Jones this is the start of a grand adventure and a desperate quest to clear her friend's name. By freighter, steam train and bi-plane the intrepid ape journeys from Lisbon to Bombay and beyond in search of the truth. But powerful forces are working against her, and they will do anything to protect their own secrets...

A Different Sort of Normal

Abigail Balfe

I'm not like the other children in my class . . . and that's an actual scientific FACT.

Hi! My name is Abigail, and I'm autistic. But I didn't know I was autistic until I was an adult-sort-of-person*.

This is my true story of growing up in the confusing 'normal' world, all the while missing some Very Important Information about myself.

There'll be scary moments involving toilets and crowded trains, heart-warming tales of cats and pianos, and funny memories including my dad and a mysterious tub of ice cream. Along the way you'll also find some Very Crucial Information about autism.

If you've ever felt different, out of place, like you don't fit in . . . this book is for you.

*I've never really felt like an actual-adult-person, as you'll soon discover in this book...

June 2023

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Alix E Harrow

ACCORDING TO JANUARY SCALLER, THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO RUN AWAY FROM YOUR OWN STORY, AND THAT'S TO SNEAK INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S . . .

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr Locke, she feels little different from the artefacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored and utterly out of place.

But her quiet existence is shattered when she stumbles across a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page reveals more impossible truths about the world, and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.

Judy Blume

Meet Margaret. She's going through all the same things most teenage girls have to face; fitting in, friendship and first bras.

Life isn't easy for Margaret. She's moved away from her childhood home, she's starting a new school, finding new friends – and she's convinced she's not normal.

For a start she hasn't got a clue whether she wants to be Jewish like her father or Christian like her mother. Everyone else seems really sure of who they are.

And, worst of all, she's a 'late developer'. She just knows that all her friends are going to need a bra before she does. It's too embarrassing to talk to her parents about these things.

So she talks to God instead – and waits for an answer . . .

May 2023

The Light in Everything

Katya Balen

Tom is still quiet and timid, even though his dad has been gone for nearly two years now. Zofia has a raging storm that makes her want to fight the whole world until she gets what she wants.

And what she wants is for scaredy-cat Tom to get out of her life. Tom hates loud, unpredictable Zofia just as much, but he's moving into Zofia's house. Because his mum and Zofia's dad are in love... and they're having a baby.

Tom and Zofia both wish the stupid baby had never happened. But then Tom's mum gets ill, and it begins to look horribly like their wish might come true...

The Blue Book of Nebo

Manon Steffan Ros

Dylan was six when The End came back in 2018; when the electricity switched off, and the world he knew disappeared. Now he's 14 and he and his mam have survived in their isolated hilltop house above the village of Nebo in north-west Wales, where mother and son confide their experiences and memories in a found notebook - the Blue Book.

March 2023

When Our Worlds Collided

Danielle Jawando

When fourteen-year-old Shaq is stabbed outside of a busy shopping centre in Manchester, three teenagers from very different walks of life are unexpectedly brought together. What follows flips their worlds upside down and makes Chantelle, Jackson, and Marc question the deep-rooted prejudice and racism that exists within the police, the media, and the rest of society.

A powerful coming-of-age story about chance encounters, injustice and how the choices that we make can completely change our future.

The Cats We Meet Along the Way

Nadia Mikail

Seventeen-year-old Aisha hasn't seen her sister June for two years. And now that a calamity is about to end the world in nine months' time, she and her mother decide that it's time to track her down and mend the hurts of the past. Along with Aisha's boyfriend, Walter and his parents (and Fleabag the stray cat), the group take a roadtrip through Malaysia in a wildly decorated campervan - to put the past to rest, to come to terms with the present, and to hope for the future.

A family attempt to make amends against the backdrop of an imminent world catastrophe - a stunning debut young adult novel about hope, healing and love.

February 2023

Julia and the Shark

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

A remote island. A stormy summer. And an adventure as big as the Great Greenland shark ...

My name is Julia.

This is the story of the summer I spent living in a lighthouse.

The summer I almost lost my mum, and found a shark older than trees.

Don't worry though, that doesn't spoil the ending ...

Julia has followed her mum and dad to live on a remote island for the summer - her dad, for work; her mother, on a determined mission to find the elusive Greenland shark. But when her mother's obsession threatens to submerge them all, Julia finds herself on an adventure with dark depths and a lighthouse full of hope...

A beautiful and uplifting story about a mother, a daughter, and love - with timely themes of the importance of science and the environment.

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill

Emma Smith-Barton

How can I hold myself together, when everything around me is falling apart?

Neena's always been a good girl - great grades, parent-approved friends and absolutely no boyfriends.

But ever since her brother Akash left her, she's been slowly falling apart - and uncovering a new version of herself who is freer, but altogether more dangerous.

As her wild behaviour spirals more and more out of control, Neena's grip on her sanity begins to weaken too.

And when her parents announce not one but two life-changing bombshells, she finally reaches breaking point.

But as Neena is about to discover, when your life falls apart, only love can piece you back together.

January 2023

The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne

Jonathan Stroud

Set in a broken, future England, where gunfights and monsters collide, this is the exciting first title in a phenomenal fantasy teen series by the bestselling children's novelist.'You won't be able to put this down. A classic in the making.' - Eoin Colfer'Perfectly paced, beautifully written and bursting with black humour and bold ideas.' - Philip Reeve''Imaginative, original, taut and with multi-layered protagonists... A wild ride.' - Jo Cotterill'Scarlett and Browne is phenomenal, unputdownable storytelling of the highest order.' - Piers Torday England has been radically changed by a series of catastrophes - large cities have disappeared and London has been replaced by a lagoon. The surviving population exists in fortified towns where they cling to traditional ways, while strangely evolved beasts prowl the wilderness beyond. Conformity is rigidly enforced and those who fall foul of the rules are persecuted: some are killed, others are driven out into the wilds. Only a few fight back - and two of these outlaws, Scarlett McCain and Albert Browne, display an audacity and talent that makes them legends.

How to Capture an Invisible Cat

Paul Tobin

Every Friday the 13th, 6th-grade genius Nate Bannister does three not-so-smart things to keep life interesting. This time, he taught a caterpillar to read, mailed a love letter, and super-sized his cat Proton before turning him invisible. Now Proton is on the loose, and Nate and his new friend Delphine must reverse the experiment before the cat crushes everything and everybody in town. As if that's not enough, the Red Death Tea Society, known for its criminal activity, killer tactics, and tea-brewing skills, is plotting against Nate and Delphine. The dynamic duo must use their creativity, courage and friendship to save the day. Paul Tobin blends wacky humour and chaotic high jinks in this rip-roaring, action-packed middle-grade debut;perfect for fans of David Walliams and Tom Gates .

December 2022

Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black

Marcus Sedgwick

A lyrical and dreamlike story of two brothers in conflict amidst the devastation of WWII London. Harry Black wakes in hospital to learn that his brother Ellis has almost certainly been killed by a V2 rocket falling during a German air raid on London. In a state of wounded delirium, Harry's mind begins to blur the distinctions between the reality of the war-torn city, the fiction of his unpublished sci-fi novel and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Driven by visions of Ellis still alive and a sense of poetic inevitability, Harry discharges himself from hospital and begins a search for his brother that will lead him deep into the city's Underworld...

Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep

Philip Reeve

It was always at sundown they were seen. In that twilight hour, when the walls between the worlds grew thin, strange things might slip through the cracks. Sometimes then, so the stories went, enchanted islands would appear in the empty ocean to the west of Wildsea.

When Utterly Dark was a baby, she was washed up on the shores of the Autumn Isles and taken in by the Watcher of Wildsea. But everything changes when her guardian suddenly drowns. Now who will keep the Watch, and make sure Wildsea stays safe from the strange forces teeming in the deep ocean around them?

A novel full of mystery and delight, from bestselling, award-winning author Philip Reeve. As the entrancing, unfathomable power of the sea fills Utterly Dark's dreams, so it will seep into your heart as you read this thrilling, magical story.

November 2022

When Women Were Dragons

Kelly Barnhill

In a world where girls and women are taught to be quiet, the dragons inside them are about to be set free ...

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, set in 1950s America, Kelly Barnhill exposes a world that wants to keep girls and women small - and examines what happens when they rise up.

Alex Green is four years old when she first sees a dragon. In her next-door neighbour's garden, in the spot where the old lady usually sits, is a huge dragon, an astonished expression on its face before it opens its wings and soars away across the rooftops.

And Alex doesn't see the little old lady after that. No one mentions her. It's as if she's never existed.

Then Alex's mother disappears, and reappears a week later, one quiet Tuesday, with no explanation whatsoever as to where she has been. But she is a ghostly shadow of her former self, and with scars across her body - wide, deep burns, as though she had been attacked by a monster who breathed fire.

Alex, growing from young girl to fiercely independent teenager, is desperate for answers, but doesn't get any.

Whether anyone likes it or not, the Mass Dragoning is coming. And nothing will be the same after that. Everything is about to change, forever.

And when it does, this, too, will be unmentionable...

War Horse

Michael Morpurgo

The bedlam of battle had begun. All around me men cried and fell to the ground, and horses reared and screamed in an agony of fear and pain. The shells whined and roared overhead, and every explosion seemed like an earthquake to us. A stunning wartime classic. In the deadly chaos of the First World War, one horse witnesses the reality of battle from both sides of the trenches. Bombarded by artillery, with bullets knocking riders from his back, Joey tells a powerful story of the truest friendships surviving in terrible times. One horse has the seen the best and the worst of humanity. The power of war and the beauty of peace. This is his story. From Michael Morpurgo, former children's laureate, come this thrilling and epic tale of one horse's journey through the trenches First World War.

October 2022

We Were Liars

E Lockhart

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends-the Liars-whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Family of Liars

E Lockhart

The thrilling prequel to the TikTok phenomenon and #1 New York Times bestseller We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come. A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.

The Twelfth Day of July

Joan Lingard

Sadie is Protestant, Kevin is Catholic - and on the tense streets of Belfast their lives collide. It starts with a dare - kids fooling around - but soon becomes something dangerous. Getting to know Sadie Jackson will change Kevin's life forever. But will the world around them change too?

September 2022

White Bird

R J Palacio

To the millions of readers who fell in love with R J Palacio's Wonder, Julian is best-known as Auggie Pullman's classroom bully.

White Bird reveals a new side to Julian's story, as Julian discovers the moving and powerful tale of his grandmother, who was hidden from the Nazis as a young Jewish girl in occupied France during the Second World War.

An unforgettable, unputdownable story about strength, courage and the power of kindness to change hearts, build bridges, and even save lives, from the globally bestselling author of Wonder.

How to Save the World with a Chicken and an Egg

Emma Shevah

Ivy believes she can talk to animals, while Nathaniel is obsessed with animal facts. They're brought together by the arrival of a rare and wondrous sea creature: a giant leatherback turtle who lays her eggs in front of the world's media. Soon they're on a mission to make a difference to the world - even if that's one animal at a time.

July 2022

October, October

Katya Balen

October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that's the way it is.

Until the year October turns eleven. That's the year October rescues a baby owl. It's the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October's mother comes back. The year everything changes.

Written in Katya Balen's heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul.

Ugly Dogs Don't Cry

DD Armstrong

A retelling of Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men set in West London, Ugly Dogs Don't Cry follows two boys entering their first year of college and their complicated journeys towards achieving their dreams.

June 2022

Guard your Heart

Sue Divin

Aidan is Catholic, Irish, and Republican. With his ex-political prisoner father gone and his mother dead, Aidan’s hope is pinned on exam results earning him a one-way ticket out of Derry. To anywhere.

Iona, Protestant and British, has a brother and father in the police. She’s got university ambitions, a strong faith and a fervent belief that boys without one track minds are a myth.

At a post-exam party, Aidan wanders alone across the Peace Bridge and becomes the victim of a brutal sectarian attack. Iona witnessed the attack; picked up Aidan’s phone and filmed what happened, and gets in touch with him to return the phone. When the two meet, alone and on neutral territory, the differences between them seem insurmountable.

Both their fathers held guns, but safer to keep that secret for now.

Despite their differences and the secrets they have to keep from each other, there is mutual intrigue, and their friendship grows. And so what? It’s not the Troubles. But for both Iona and Aidan it seems like everything is keeping them apart , when all they want is to be together . . .

Furthermoor

Darren Simpson

The real world is a hostile place for twelve-year-old Bren, his schooldays stalked by vicious bully, Shaun, and his family life fractured at home. Ever since his sister Evie died in an accident, Bren's only safe space is Furthermoor, an imagined world of mechanised trees and clockwork animals, where Evie is still alive. In Furthermoor, no one can hurt Bren...until the mysterious Featherly arrives.

Now Bren is forced to confront his deepest fears and decide if his place in the real world is worth fighting for.

Enter a world as vast and dark as your imagination, in this unforgettable coming-of-age story about courage, friendship and finding your voice.

May 2022

Heartstopper

Alice Oseman

Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met ... until one day when they're made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.

By Alice Oseman, winner of the YA Book Prize, Heartstopper is about love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness. It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie's lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

This is the first volume of Heartstopper, which is now an acclaimed live-action Netflix series.

The Henna Wars

Adiba Jaigirdar

Nishat and Flávia are rivals at school, but Nishat can't help the secret crush burning in her heart - even though her parents disapprove of the fact she likes girls. Can she possibly find her happy ever after? A gorgeous, heart-warming, queer YA love story for fans of Becky Albertalli.

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants - as long as she isn't herself. Because Muslim girls aren't lesbians. Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, which only gets harder once Flávia walks into her life.

Beautiful and charismatic, Flávia takes Nishat's breath away. But as their lives become tangled, they're caught up in a rivalry that gets in the way of any feelings they might have for each other.

Can Nishat find a way to be true to herself... and find love too?

April 2022

The Crossing

Manjeet Mann

The sea carries our pain. The stars carry our future.

Natalie's world is falling apart. She's just lost her mum and her brother marches the streets of Dover full of hate and anger. Swimming is her only refuge.

Sammy has fled his home and family in Eritrea for the chance of a new life in Europe. Every step he takes on his journey is a step into an unknown and unwelcoming future.

A twist of fate brings them together and gives them both hope. But is hope enough to mend a broken world?

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini

Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him - for he always helps Amir - but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street, although Amir still feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father's heart. But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return, to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.