She is a hardworking cleaner, determined to be a good role model for her son, and given where they live, she has her work cut out in steering Kian along a positive life path. He has a wonderful way of lifting the reader up while tugging at our heart strings at the same time. You can take some time to look for magical creatures in clouds, like Amy and Louis did, or use cotton wool to create your own cloud creatures. Recommended to young children who have had to move, or who have mourned a friend having to move, as well as to Freya Blackwood fans. It was hard to believe that this lit-up neighborhood existed on the same planet that he’d lived on before.

Somewhere in the middle, this novel turns into a heart-wrenching example of how easily life can fall away from you. Sometimes Louie climbs through the hole in the fence to visit Amy, and sometimes Amy climbs through the hole in the fence to visit Louie, but no matter where they are, they always have a lot of fun. I based myself first in Italy where I taught English and then in London where I started writing my first novel, Eleanor, Elizabeth. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology, he moved to London to pursue a career in journalism and worked as a features editor and agony uncle. HALF A WORLD AWAY is heartbreaking and beautiful, full of poignant moments and characters you fall for from page one.Highly recommend for anyone who can 1) cope with the trigger warnings and 2) enjoy beautiful writing, character driven stories and a plot focusing around adoption and finding family. This is the story of Kerry and Noah, two siblings separated when they were taken from their mother in early childhood. When his mother left him, he’d been so out of his mind that he hadn’t even screamed and cried; he’d howled.

This is the first book I have ever read or listened to by Mike Gayle and immediately upon finishing it I used up my Audible credits and bought The Man I Think I Know and All The Lonely People. She left care at eighteen and went spectacularly off the rails and now cleans large houses owned by wealthy people to put food on the table for her and Kian. Both story and pictures are so evocative of children’s play and children’s friendships, and also of feelings of loss, connection, and creative ways of coping too.And he needs one in America, as I feel he is relatively unknown and therefore spectacularly under appreciated. Social class and race were prominent issues highlighted here which I found really added to the emotion of the story. As the book progresses, I became overwhelmingly invested in their blossoming relationship and hoped for a sweet ending. Amy and Louis miss each other, and seem to be too young to have facebook profiles to keep in touch, so they have to figure out another way to remember their friendship. And when it becomes increasingly clear that that day will never come, Kerry takes matters into her own hands.

Understanding Noah's feelings towards his adoption and growing up black in a white family made for an interesting read. Today’s a hard day for me (I’m writing this on the 16th of January); it’s my late brother’s birthday and reading a book about long lost siblings and the unconditional love just hit me so much harder than I could even think was possible. A heartrending tale, this book pulled me in from the start with its wonderful ensemble of characters. He also knows everyone is surprised by his lack of interest in his birth family, his lack of angst at being adopted, at growing up as a black child in a white family, but Noah doesn't need to look back.

I was so charmed by Freya Blackwood's illustrations in "Maudie and Bear" I was eager to see other things she has done. On the other, he is interested in the country and feels sorry for the orphans he visits because he knows he understands better than anyone what they're going through.