Description
Just as Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book reworked Kipling's The Jungle Book for a modern audience with a liking for the supernatural, Devilskein & Dearlove is a darker, more edgy, contemporary reworking of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden. An orphaned teenager is taken in by a reluctant distant relative, and in her new home makes an unexpected friend and finds a secret realm. It has shades of the quirky fantastical in the style of Miyazaki's (Studio Ghibli) animated films like Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle (originally a novel by Diana Wynne Jones).
Alex says "As a child The Secret Garden was one of my first favourite novels - one of the first I relished reading by myself. Although Devilskein & Dearlove is very different, it was inspired by that novel and its themes."
"Alex Smith's quirky imagination knows no bounds." - Andre Brink
NOMINATED FOR 2015 CARNEGIE MEDAL
A Young Adult novel set in South Africa.
Young Erin Dearlove has lost everything in a violent attack on her family. She now lives with her bohemian aunt Kate in a run-down apartment block. Locked into a fantasy of her previous life, she shuns all overtures of friendship from her new neighbours, until she meets Mr Devilskein, the demon who lives on the top floor... and opens a door into another world.
About the Author
Alex Smith lives in Cape Town with her partner, their book-eating baby boy and their two dogs. She has had four novels published in South Africa (Random House/Umuzi Imprint), was shortlisted for the 2010 Caine Prize and won the 2011Nielsens Bookseller's Choice Award. She has been published before by Arachne Press, in Weird Lies
Awards
Nominated for Carnegie Medal 2015.
Book Information
ISBN 9781909208155
Author Alex Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Arachne Press
Publisher Arachne Press
Weight(grams) 300g
