Winner of the Children’s Book Award 2016, Books for Older Readers category - Longlisted for the 2015 Guardian Children's Book prize - Shortlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal
Apple is sure that one day her mother will return. And when that happens she is sure that everything in her life will be good again. But when Mum does return, Apple finds that what you wish for may not always be what you really want. With the arrival of mum, Apple’s life is turned upside down. Home, school and most of all, what she really thinks about all those around her, are all thrown into confusion. Can Apple find happiness in a new way of life? Apple’s poems help her to tell this touching story of an unhappy and complicated family life.
Now available in a gorgeous new package, this exquisite novel explores the bond between daughters and mothers, forgiveness, and the healing power of words. All the time Mum was away, Eleven long years, I saved up my hopes Like little pennies in a jar. Apple's mother disappeared years ago, leaving Apple with her nana and a lot of unanswered questions. But when she unexpectedly explodes back into Apple's life like a comet, homecoming is bittersweet. It's only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are. This beautiful novel from multi-award-winning author Sarah Crossan explores family, friendship and reconciliation. It is a story about how messy, complicated and surprising love can be.
This poignant, realistic tale is about learning to love and taking responsibility, and how poems can tell the truth ... - Sunday Times Book of the Week
A story of the redeeming power of love. It's beautifully written and it made me cry but it also made me laugh - The Bookbag
Praise for The Weight of Water;
Poignant, powerful, just perfect - Cathy Cassidy
Succinct, with a gentle lyricism, the poems are telling about immigration, prejudice, self-delusion, families and first love, on the way to a life-changing conclusion - The Sunday Times - Children's Books of the Week
Exquistely and touchingly written - Irish Times
Author
About Sarah Crossan
Sarah Crossan has lived in Dublin, London and New York, and now lives in East Sussex. She graduated with a degree in Philosophy and Literature before training as an English and drama teacher at the University of Cambridge. The Weight of Water and Apple and Rain were both shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. In 2016, Sarah won the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as the YA Book Prize, the CBI Book of the Year award and the CLiPPA Poetry Award for her novel, One.
Sarah is the go-to writer of the free verse novel in the UK and Ireland, and is the current Laureate na nÓg (Ireland’s Children’s Literature Laureate). Her theme as Laureate is #WeAreThePoets, a two-year project inspiring young people to express themselves through poetry and verse.
