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In 1847, everything in Ireland was falling apart—but sixteen-year-old Nell was falling in love. Carnegie Medal winner Sarah Crossan's first historical novel-in-verse is a suspenseful and heartbreaking story of love, family, and the forces that can destroy us or bind us forever. For fans of Joy McCullough, Elizabeth Acevedo, Malinda Lo, and Ruta Sepetys.
Ireland is starving, and a poor Irish scullery maid falls in love with the British heir to the land. Can their romance stay hidden during the devastating famine? The potatoes are black, people are dying, and in the midst of it all, Nell must do everything she can to keep her family together and everyone she loves alive.
It is hard to tell a love story
and also the story of a people
being torn apart.
"Acclaimed author Crossan atmospherically renders the rural Irish setting of this emotionally resonant and powerfully written, page-turning verse novel... . Hauntingly beautiful." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"An emotionally taut story of strength and loss, exhibiting how darkness and hope can intertwine. Readers will be left breathless." —Booklist (starred review)
"Where the Heart Should Be grapples with huge themes of colonialism, poverty, privilege, and power imbalance with astonishing intimacy. A love story set within a harrowing historical period, this is a gripping journey of longing and loss, injustice and sacrifice, crafted by a master of the novel in verse." —Joy McCullough, award-winning author of Blood Water Paint
This information about Where the Heart Should Be was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sarah Crossan has lived in Dublin, London and New York, and now lives in Brighton. She graduated with a degree in philosophy and literature before training as an English and drama teacher at Cambridge University. Sarah has won many international awards for her verse novels, including the CILIP Carnegie Medal, the CBI Book of Year award and the CLiPPA Poetry Award. This is her first novel for adults.
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