10% off all books and free delivery over £40
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

The Knife of Never Letting Go

"Knowledge is dangerous"

View All Editions (6)

£8.99 £8.09

In Stock. Same day dispatch on orders before 3pm.

Add To Wishlist
Write A Review Read An Extract

LoveReading4Kids Says

LoveReading4Kids Says

Chosen by our Guest Editor for October 2023, Jennifer Killick, as one of her must-reads: There are so many things to love about this original, clever and gripping book, but the thing I love the most is the main character – Todd Hewitt. He is one of my favourite characters of all time.

 

Smart new edition of the book that changed the YA landscape and launched Patrick Ness as one of the most uniquely powerful writers of our time.  

The population of god-fearing Prentisstown has been reduced to a mere 147 men (there are no women among them), but that’s not all that’s odd about the town. There’s no privacy here either, no silence, because everyone can hear the Noise of others’ thoughts. Everyone that is, except 12 year-old orphan Todd who, on the verge of the birthday that will see him become a man, discovers “a hole in the Noise” while walking by the dark swamp that teems with amphibians and reptiles. When Todd tells his guardians, they’re horrified. “We have got to get you outta here,” they panic and so Todd is sent back to the swamp, and told he “ain’t coming back”. Shortly after fleeing, he meets a girl in the marsh and they must flee the hunters who can hear their every thought.

Page-turningly tense and stridently intelligent, this is storytelling at it’s most inventive - a powerful, exhilarating exploration of ethics, identity, fear and love. Published ten years ago, this seminal novel thoroughly deserves to be read by new generations. 

A special anniversary edition, with a striking new cover design, to celebrate 10 years of the Chaos Walking trilogy. The electrifying and unflinching young adult novel about the impossible choices of growing up by award-winning fiction writer Patrick Ness.

A word from the author:  'The Knife of Never Letting Go started as an idea about information overload. We're constantly surrounded by information - internet, emails, texts, etc - whether we want to be or not. To me, this can sometimes see overwhelming, sometime just so incredibly loud that it's impossible to make sense of. And I start thinking, what if you really couldn't escape? What if information never, ever stopped? And that gave me the idea of the Noise and of an intelligent, thoughtful young man buckling under the weight of it. There would come a day when he'd have no choice but to run...'

What the Carnegie Award judges said:  'A bleak and unflinching novel with fascinating characters and extraordinary dialogue which creates a fully-realised world that the reader really buys into. The dog Manchee is an inspired creation! Ness conveys a real sense of terror and the ending is devastating. A novel that really stands out.'

Joanne Owen

Recommended Children's eBooks

Find This Book In

Suitable For:
Other Genres:
Recommendations:

About

Press Reviews

Author

You Might Also Like...

YA readers

Let's Play Murder

Kesia Lupo

Paperback

In Stock

£7.19 £7.99

YA readers

Promise Boys

Nick Brooks

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

YA readers

The Boy I Am

K. L. Kettle

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

YA readers

Of Ants and Dinosaurs

Cixin Liu

Paperback

In Stock

£8.99 £9.99

YA readers

Internment

Samira Ahmed

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

YA readers

Ready Player One

Ernest Cline

Paperback

In Stock

£8.99 £9.99