The Hurting

Nell hates her sister’s illness, her drunken dad, and the daily absence of her mum. 
When she meets Lukas, adopted heir to a Norwegian oil fortune, she sees her escape: the two of them running away from the world. But Lukas has his own dark wishes, and soon it’s clear that what joins them goes way beyond love.
This is survival … and is any boy really worth her soul?

Chicken House

Lucy contacted me and asked if I’d like to read her debut YA before very kindly sending me a copy, along with the teaching notes (which, as you’d expect, are massively spoilery so I won’t share them here, but they’re very useful, especially if you want to use the novel as a creative writing prompt or to spark some research ideas, if you’d like to see them then contact me on twitter).

As well as winning the inaugural Bath Children’s Novel Award, it has just been shortlisted for the Irish Great Reads Award (chosen by librarians, and we know what we’re talking about) so I read it in the car on the way home from hols. It is very dark “Nordic noir” for teens and the scene setting is stunning. Basically all the relationships are terrible, all the characters have experienced something traumatic, and things seem to only get worse and worse…so of course I was completely gripped and raced through it!

The Hurting is out now from Chicken House, and you can read an extract here!

About Caroline Fielding

Chartered School Librarian, CILIP YLG London Chair, Bea-keeper

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