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Natasha Carthew was born and raised in Cornwall, where she still lives with her girlfriend of nineteen years. Natasha had three books of poetry published before her first novel, Winter Damage, came out in 2013. Winter Damage was nominated for the 2014 Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for several other awards including the prestigious Branford Boase Award. Natasha is a country writer who does all of her writing outside – whatever the weather – in a cabin built from scrap.
A stunningly original ocean adventure by a one-of-a-kind author whose work defies convention and abounds with a purity of ideas and execution. Kel was “always running away from something”, seeking escape “from the world she inhabited within and the world that bullied her from the outside”. She’s a swamper, born oceans apart from the wealthy tower people who live in the same Cornish coastal community. She’s also an unforgettable heroine, a girl with danger in her eyes, a baby to care for and “a stupid heart that beat wrong and was shaped wrong and had wrongness stretched clean through it”. Kel “didn’t want what the tower people had; she only wanted two things, a heart she could rely on and freedom from kin”, which is why she kidnaps Rose, the daughter of a cargo ship captain. Kel plans to use her ill-gotten gains to travel to South America to have a heart operation, because in the UK “swamp folk don’t get operations”. Aboard the ship Kel tracks down Rose and forces her to board a smaller vessel, soon running into trouble when the engine fails amidst scenes of devastation on the mainland. Steering clear of well-worn clichés, Carthew’s stories cut to the heart of human experience, often portraying and championing life’s underdogs and outsiders. What a thrilling, thought-provoking novel this is, brimming with perilous encounters, and the rawness of real-life relationships.
November 2018 Book of the Month | One of our 2018 Books of the Year | A stunningly original ocean adventure by a one-of-a-kind author whose work defies convention and abounds with a purity of ideas and execution. Kel was “always running away from something”, seeking escape “from the world she inhabited within and the world that bullied her from the outside”. She’s a swamper, born oceans apart from the wealthy tower people who live in the same Cornish coastal community. She’s also an unforgettable heroine, a girl with danger in her eyes, a baby to care for and “a stupid heart that beat wrong and was shaped wrong and had wrongness stretched clean through it”. Kel “didn’t want what the tower people had; she only wanted two things, a heart she could rely on and freedom from kin”, which is why she kidnaps Rose, the daughter of a cargo ship captain. Kel plans to use her ill-gotten gains to travel to South America to have a heart operation, because in the UK “swamp folk don’t get operations”. Aboard the ship Kel tracks down Rose and forces her to board a smaller vessel, soon running into trouble when the engine fails amidst scenes of devastation on the mainland. Steering clear of well-worn clichés, Carthew’s stories cut to the heart of human experience, often portraying and championing life’s underdogs and outsiders. What a thrilling, thought-provoking novel this is, brimming with perilous encounters, and the rawness of real-life relationships.
In a Nutshell: Raw revenge | Exploitative institution | Brightening bonds | An unforgettable novel about revenge, abuses of authority and the redemptive power of friendship. After witnessing his parents’ murder, Trey is sent to bleak Camp Kernow, a correctional institution for young offenders. Here, under the command of religious obsessives who are directed by the all-powerful Preacher, the inmates are set to work farming and slaughtering cattle in the name of salvation. But Trey has his own agenda. He’s there to avenge his parents’ killer, driven by an internal demon that “poked at him with talons and threatened to bust from the inside out”. Amidst an environment of ruthless bullying, and shocking revelations about what’s really going on around the camp, Trey forms friendships with shrewd Kay and ‘crazy’ Lamby. And when chaos is unleashed, these unexpected alliances become crucial to any chance of survival. This gripping novel explores challenging themes with ferocious flair and fearless originality. It will surely inspire much thought and discussion about, for example, what purpose revenge serves, trust, abuses of power, and whether anyone is simply “bad for the kick of things”, or whether people grow bad “like bacteria on foul meat”. Highly recommended for fans of Meg Rosoff and Patrick Ness. ~ Joanne Owen
Shortlisted for The Branford Boase Award 2014 Winter Damage is set not very far from the here and now, in a world where things have fallen apart. It is a poetic, chilling and moving debut that will embrace you in its icy grip then thaw you from the heart out. It is a book that Rebecca McNally, Publishing Director for Bloomsbury Children’s Books, loved on first reading and feels is a future classic - download a Piece of Passion from Rebecca here.  In addition to our Lovereading expert opinion for Winter Damage a small number of teenagers were lucky enough to be invited to review this title. Here's a taster....'Winter Damage is an intense, emotional and soul searching story following fifthteen year-old Ennor who is desperate to find her long lost mum.' Scroll down to read more.
Breath-takingly fierce, smart and tender, Only the Ocean is a story of survival and courage in the midst of darkness that will thrill fans of Patrick Ness and Sarah Crossan. The two girls sat at opposite ends of the boat and Kel dug and stretched the oars into the ocean like her life depended upon it because it did. 'Just so you know,' said Rose, 'everything, and I mean everything, is your fault.' Kel Crow lives in a dead-end swamp with her deadbeat family and a damaged heart. But she has a plan to escape. It's a one-two-three fortune story that goes: stow away on the ship, kidnap the girl, swap the girl to pay for passage to America and a life-saving operation. But the ocean is an untameable force, and wrecks ships and plans alike ... Sweet, raw and uncompromising - this is the story of an unforgettable relationship forged on an epic journey.
Breath-takingly fierce, smart and tender, Only the Ocean is a story of survival, and courage in the midst of darkness that will thrill fans of Patrick Ness and Sarah Crossan The two girls sat at opposite ends of the boat and Kel dug and stretched the oars into the ocean like her life depended upon it because it did. 'Just so you know,' said Rose, 'everything, and I mean everything, is your fault.' Kel Crow lives in a dead-end swamp with her deadbeat family and a damaged heart. But she has a plan to escape. It's a one-two-three fortune story that goes: stow away on the ship, kidnap the girl, swap the girl to pay for passage to America and a life-saving operation. But the ocean is an untameable force, and wrecks ships and plans alike ... Sweet, raw and uncompromising - this is the story of an unforgettable relationship forged on an epic journey.
A small boy hiding in a cupboard witnesses something no child should ever see. He tries not to look but he still hears it. And when he comes out, there's no mistaking. His mum and dad have been killed. And though he's only small, he swears that he'll get revenge one day. Years later, Trey goes to a strange camp that is meant to save troubled teenagers. It's packed with crazies, god-botherers, devoted felons and broken kids. Trey's been in and out of trouble ever since the day the bad thing happened, but he's not here for saving: this is where he'll find the man who did it. Revenge and healing, salvation and hell are a boiling, dangerous mix, and Trey finds himself drawn to a girl, a dream and the offer of friendship in the dark ...
*Shortlisted for the prestigious Branford Boase Award* On a frozen Cornish moor, a fourteen-year-old girl lives in a trailer with her dad and little brother. Ennor's mother left years ago, when things started to go wrong - and gradually their world has fallen apart. Now her father's gravely ill, school has closed, and Ennor knows they're going to take her brother away if things don't pick up soon. Days before Christmas, when the wind is cold and her dad's health takes a turn for the worse, Ennor packs a blanket, a map, a saucepan and a gun into her rucksack, and sets off to find her mum and bring her home. Ennor thinks she knows where she's going. But this journey will change her life for ever - it becomes a battle for survival, a heartbreaking story of love and friendship, and a fable about not finding what you were looking for, but finding something more important instead . . . A bone-chillingly powerful debut novel that traps you in its icy grasp then thaws you from the heart out - for readers of Meg Rosoff, Siobhan Dowd and Patrick Ness
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