LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2021
Award winning author Jenny Valentine is justly renowned for never using three words where one will do, but every word she uses will count. Hello Now is another short novel that punches well beyond its weight. Every novel she writes is completely different, but you always know that you are in for an unforgettable reading experience. So, you would not expect the obvious wish fulfilment fantasy love story of finding true happiness with the perfect time-travelling love object and while that is the bare bones of the story of Jude and Novo, what we get is so much more. Jude is cleverly non gendered throughout the book and so this romance can take on multiple interpretations. The mechanics of Novo’s existence are never logically explained either, but we do have an intense dive into the powerful emotion that often seems beyond rationality and beyond time. It is only when Novo meets Henry, the old reclusive sitting tenant in the house Jude has just moved into, that Jude realises the harsh dilemma facing them. In one of the most touching scenes, Henry and Novo recognise each other for what they are. As Henry later explains to Jude alone, if Novo stays with Jude in her present time, he sentences himself to eternal loneliness once Jude inevitably dies, the same loneliness that Henry currently endures. A sacrifice that Novo is desperate to make but one that Jude cannot live with. Doing what is right is not always easy but embracing the moment, embracing change, and moving forward after loss are lessons worth learning. Exquisitely done and a thought provoking, rewarding read.
Joy Court
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About
Hello Now Synopsis
A beautifully moving, exquisite and utterly original love story from Carnegie-shortlisted author Jenny Valentine - for 12+ girls, boys, and everything in between.
This is more than one story, more than one Now. But I'll tell it as best I can. Me? I'm Jude - like the Patron Saint of lost causes. Him? He's Novo. Like nothing on earth. Literally. In the beginning, before Novo showed up, my mum and me moved to the seaside. Then the first of July, 11.34am. Novo arrived. I was like an atom in his orbit. Alone with him, feeling the pull. Suddenly in the moment, in the Now. Then a terrible, unthinkable Now. One that could tear my family apart. But Nows can be undone, rewritten, changed. Goodbye to life as I know it. And Hello Now...
From Guardian-prize-winning author Jenny Valentine, this is a stunningly written exploration of what it means to live and love in the moment that quite literally transcends logic and time.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780007466498 |
| Publication date: |
2nd April 2020 |
| Author: |
Jenny Valentine |
| Publisher: |
HarperCollins an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
192 pages |
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Press Reviews
Jenny Valentine Press Reviews
'Fabulously original and inspiring.' Sarah Crossan
Praise for Jenny Valentine:
'Valentine has the essential storyteller's gift of making you want to read on - and to know more even after the book is finished.' Guardian
'The award-winning Valentine has a keen eye for the idiosyncrasies of young children, and the rhythms of family life.' The Bookseller
'[Valentine] has a wonderful ability to take readers right into the hearts and souls of her central characters, and reading her is always a truly vicarious experience.' The Bookbag
Praise for Finding Violet Park:
Finding Violet Park is a wonderful debut. Guardian
Ultra-original and brilliantly written, this will have you laughing and crying, too. Mizz
Clever and totally assured, it is hard to believe that this is a first novel from a new author... [an] ingenious novel from a writer who already has much to offer. ***** Nicholas Tucker, Books for Keeps
Memorable and well-paced, this is a book to help young people grow in spite of adversity. Carousel
This is terrific stuff and quite unlike anything else I've come across.... a powerful and compelling story. Inis
First-time author Jenny Valentine has an original and exciting voice. Writing Magazine
Author
About Jenny Valentine
Jenny Valentine is an award-winning writer for Young Adults. Her first novel Finding Violet Park won the Guardian prize in 2007 and since then she has written many books, including Broken Soup and Fire Colour One, as well as young fiction series Iggy and Me. Her work has been published in 19 countries. In 2017 she was the Hay Festival International Fellow, spending the year meeting and learning from teenagers all over the world. She works to empower and give a voice to young people. She lives all over the place and has two daughters.
Find Jenny on Instagram @jennyvalentinebook
A Q&A with Jenny about her first novel, Finding Violet Park
Cool name!
I owe the showbiz name to my husband!
This is your first book, have you always wanted to be a writer girl and how did you make it happen?
My mum bought me a notebook when I was about nine that looked like a novel on the outside. I had to put the title and the author on the front and then fill it with a story. I knew then. I am not sure exactly how I made it happen - I put the work in I guess.
What was your favourite book as a teen girl?
Such a hard question! I read a lot and I always wish I had made lists of all the books I loved. One that stands out would be The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
For people who haven't read your book yet - Finding Violet Park, what's it all about?
It's about a boy who finds an old lady's ashes in a mini cab office and decides to find out who she was. He learns a lot of other things while he's doing it.
Lucas is a great narrator, what made you write from a boy's perspective?
No idea! He just jumped out, fully formed, in about the second sentence. I'm not sure I had that much choice in the matter.
Secrets are a big part of the book, what's your biggest secret?
Good try!
If the book had a soundtrack, what would be on it?
Well, Lucas listens to all his Dad's old records so there'd be some early David Bowie, some Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, maybe Rolling Stones. Then there'd have to be some piano pieces for Violet to play, Rachmaninov gets played at Lucas's granny's. Then Lucas's own choices might be Sufjan Stevens, Will Oldham, and a song from my husband Alex Valentine's record TARDIS HEART. It's called SORROW and as soon as I heard it I said I'd want it in a soundtrack if I was ever lucky enough to get one.
Apart from your own, what's your favourite book for teens?
Holes by Louis Sachar. I love that book. I think it's perfect.
What's the best thing about being a writer?
Finding the exact word you've been searching for.
Do you have a writing routine, Jenny? Tell us about it¦
Well it's very un-HELLO! I drink coffee, I have a walk by the river with our dog, I sit down and I re-read some of what I did the day before. Then I get going. Sometimes I look up and three hours have gone by, sometimes it's like getting blood out of a stone. I think it helps to have no routine at all, just to go with it, see how it's working.
What's next in the world of JV?
I'm working on my next book. It should be out next year. I can't tell you what it's called yet because I don't know. I'm very indecisive.
The colour pink. Discuss.
Let's see...bubblegum, fake fur, rose petals, cold noses, underwear, marshmallows, candy floss, lip gloss... how am I doing?!
More About Jenny Valentine
More
A message from Jenny Valentine; ‘This is a book about falling in love, but there’s no soft landing. I didn’t want to be part of the hard sell. I tried to take the feeling apart and have a proper look at it, like a mechanic. I tried very hard to be unromantic, to stop it hurtling onward for once, and pin it down.
I wanted to be unflinching.
No together forever. No happy ever after.
I don’t think love is easy. It’s not organised or obedient or even kind. Love is a shock and it isn’t good for you. Not always. It can be messy. And painful. It can bite like a steel trap.
And at the same time, we can’t get enough of it. That fall is pure magic. An illusion. Astonishing. A dream. Love is a kind of madness. And we are, all of us, a bit in love with love.’
Find out more about the UKLA Awards 2021.
