Elizabeth Laird

Elizabeth Laird was born in New Zealand of Scottish parents, but grew up in London. Before studying French and German at university, she taught at a girls’ school in Malaysia. During her twenties she lived and worked in Ethiopia, teaching and travelling, and was a disc jockey on a late night music show, broadcasting to Africa and India. She now lives in London.

Elizabeth is best known for her fiction for children and young adults. Novels include Red Sky in the Morning (1988), about a disabled child; Kiss the Dust (1991), about Kurdish asylum seekers in Iraq; Secret Friends (1996); Jay (1997), which has a drug theme; and  Jake’s Tower (2001), in which a boy has to cope with a violent stepfather. The Garbage King (2003) is set in Addis Ababa, and is about Ethiopian street children. A Little Piece of Ground (2003) is set in Ramallah, Palestine, from the point of view of boys caught up in the intifada. Secrets of the Fearless (2006) is a historical adventure story set against the backdrop of Nelson's navy.
 
Elizabeth Laird's books have been translated into 15 languages. 

Photo: © Macmillan Children's Books

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Featured Books, with extracts by Elizabeth Laird

The Prince Who Walked With Lions
Elizabeth Laird
Award-winning Elizabeth Laird has an exceptional gift for telling stories that bring both other times and other countries to life. Son of a warmongering Abyssinian King, Alamayu grows up watching his father spilling the blood of his own people and...
Featured in: 11+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/03/2012
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The Witching Hour
Elizabeth Laird
Shortlisted for the Scottish Book Award 2010. Vivid and thrilling, The Witching Hour is a finely crafted historical novel, packed full of the important details which bring the past to life. At its heart is the story of strong spirited...
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Format: Paperback - Released: 02/04/2010
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The Witching Hour
Elizabeth Laird
Treachery and intrigue provide a sombre background for the story of spirited Maggie and her determination to survive the cruel persecution of the church. After her granny is falsely accused of being a witch, Maggie has to flee and to...
Featured in: 11+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/05/2009
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Lost Riders
Elizabeth Laird
A gripping and heart stopping story, Lost Riders uncovers the shocking story of child slavery today. Rashid is eight when his uncle sells him and his younger brother to a man who promises him a new life in Dubai. But the promises are...
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/05/2009
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Lost Riders
Elizabeth Laird
A gripping and heart stopping story, Lost Riders uncovers the shocking story of child slavery today. Rashid is eight when his uncle sells him and his younger brother to a man who promises him a new life in Dubai. But...
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Hardback - Released: 06/06/2008
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Crusade
Elizabeth Laird
Two boys, Adam and Salim, come face to face when they find themselves on opposing sides in a Holy war. Adam is part of a Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the infidels; Salim finds himself at the heart of Saladin’s...
Featured in: 9+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/05/2008
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Oranges In No Man's Land
Elizabeth Laird
A gripping story of a ten-year-old girl who risks death to make a life-saving dash through war-torn Beirut. It’s a quite remarkable tale of courage and hope in a country that has seen more than its fair share of bloodshed.
Featured in: 9+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 03/08/2007
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Crusade
Elizabeth Laird
Two boys, Adam and Salim, come face to face when they find themselves on opposing sides in a Holy war. Adam is part of a Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the infidels; Salim finds himself at the heart of Saladin’s...
Featured in: 9+ readers | Book Awards | Ebooks
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/06/2007
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Kiss The Dust
Elizabeth Laird
A highly topical, award-winning novel from a truly great writer for children.  The genocide of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein was to most people brutal and barbaric and given the current situation in the Middle East and the wars there...
Featured in: 9+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2007
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Red Sky In The Morning
Elizabeth Laird
Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal and runner-up for the Children's Book Award, Red Sky in the Morning  is remarkably moving and beautifully narrated.  A teenage girl worships and adores her disabled little brother but can’t bring herself to tell...
Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/10/2006
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Paradise End
Elizabeth Laird
A brilliant story of two girls; one who dreams of swapping her semi-detached life and moving into the big empty house down the road but when she meets Tia who does move to Paradise End, Carly realises that although Tia...
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Format: Paperback - Released: 05/08/2005
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A Little Piece of Ground
Elizabeth Laird
Despite being published nearly 5 years ago this remains a highly topical, very real story of a Palestinian boy living under military occupation. Incredibly moving; it’s an absolute must read for our children in the hope that their generation will...
Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/08/2004
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Garbage King
Elizabeth Laird
A gritty, deeply moving story that shows how the human spirit can triumph in the harshest of worlds.  The deserved winner of the Children’s Book Award when it was first published.
Featured in: 9+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback (b Format) - Released: 02/04/2004
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Jake's Tower
Elizabeth Laird
A harrowing story about a boy who suffers not just from abuse but of a feeling that the world is against him, who runs away, experiences the most horrific violence but eventually has that eureka moment of meeting his father. ...
Featured in: 9+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback (b Format) - Released: 05/07/2002
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