Zephyr

Gil bolts for freedom on his way to another foster-placement. When his backpack is stolen, with his treasured photograph and his hag-stone, his pursuit of the thief brings him to an island dividing the motorway, and to the ramshackle home of three other runaways. Riley and Grayson escaped an abusive parent, and with Junk, the dog, steal supplies. They tell Gil about another inhabitant, already established. Pez ran away from a cult, bringing with her stolen seeds, experience of self-sufficiency, and a conviction that isolation and silence are safer than human company.

In this book we follow Dido, female charioteer and champion of the Circus Maximus, during the reign of Emperor Caligula, the third Roman Emperor.

The title of this novel is fairly self-explanatory: the protagonist, Stella, follows a series of clues that seem to suggest that her recently deceased mother was in fact a mermaid. She runs away from home intent on finding answers on a nearby island, where she gets into a pickle with her mother’s former associates.

This charming, fast-paced novel deals with the delicate topic of homelessness in a considerate and realistic way. As with his highly acclaimed debut novel, Malcolm Duffy manages to sensitively pepper comedy throughout the text, even when writing about characters who find themselves in harrowing situations. This unique style of writing makes for a book that is both educational and an immensely entertaining read.

Sally Gardner’s multi-award-winning I, Coriander remains a classic of middle-grade fiction, and fans will fall eagerly upon Gardner’s new historical novel for that age group.

Ash goes to the town of Snowflake, Arizona in search of her step-brother, Bly, who she finds out has recently become ill. Everyone in this town has some sort of illness, and this mystery is at the centre of the story. Ash is made to wash herself and sacrifice her clothes upon arrival to avoid contaminating the inhabitants with her ‘normie’ (that is, a person who comes from outside of Snowflake) germs.

When Betsy K. Glory meets the enigmatic Mr Tiger, the daughter of an ice-cream maker and a mermaid is tasked with an extraordinary challenge: to help her father create an ice cream that makes wishes come true. This quest takes Betsy, her family and a whole cast of curious characters quite literally to the moon and back.

Danny Croft lives with his mother in a council house in Newcastle and has no idea who his father is. When Danny and his mam move in with his mother’s new boyfriend, Callum, Danny soon realises that his mother is being abused by Callum. When he asks around at school for advice on what to do if your mother is being bothered by a hypothetical somebody, everyone says they would get their dad after the person. Danny sets out then to find his father to help him and his mam get away from the violent Callum.

Since she was an infant, fourteen-year-old Sante has grown up among the many and varied members of Mama Rose’s Family Circus. They’re the only family she’s ever known. But in her dreams she sees visions of another life, a life torn apart by migration, shipwreck and human trafficking. When dangers from her past begin to threaten her circus family, the spirits from Sante’s dreams are stirred up into her waking life.