Yummy New Book - karenhealey is fabulous!!!
Picked up my copy of karenhealey‘s debut YA novel “Guardian Of The Dead” from the PO yesterday (hardback edition from The Book Depository $20). Am halfway through it, and I should be catching up on sleep from the last few weeks, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that till I’ve finished reading it.
It is very very very good. If this is what she can do with a first novel, I can’t wait for the next one. Like me, Karen is a Kiwi/mid/south Cantabrian expat living in Australia and a huge fan of Margaret Mahy, one of the best writers to come out of NZ, and one of the best kids/YA writers in the world full stop. There are homages to one of Mahy’s most famous YA novels, “The Changeover” (if you love “Guardian Of The Dead” and haven’t read “The Changeover” remedy that ASAP.), but “Guardian” is not an imitation. It is original and beautiful, and if I were Margaret Mahy (oh, I wish), I would be thrilled to bits to have influenced someone who writes as well as this. I am grinning like a loon at all the familiar NZ/Canterbury references in “Guardian”, and having random attacks of nostalgia. Her characters are wonderful, and I would have LOVED to have read this as a teen - Ellie would have been an instant literary friend.
Here is a link to a short story by Karen “Queen Of The Kitchen”, and info on her novel is at the same website. Buy, read, enjoy!
Karen, I was in Borders today, and there were half a dozen or so copies of the paperback displayed prominently in the YA section - face out. Very exciting!
It is very very very good. If this is what she can do with a first novel, I can’t wait for the next one. Like me, Karen is a Kiwi/mid/south Cantabrian expat living in Australia and a huge fan of Margaret Mahy, one of the best writers to come out of NZ, and one of the best kids/YA writers in the world full stop. There are homages to one of Mahy’s most famous YA novels, “The Changeover” (if you love “Guardian Of The Dead” and haven’t read “The Changeover” remedy that ASAP.), but “Guardian” is not an imitation. It is original and beautiful, and if I were Margaret Mahy (oh, I wish), I would be thrilled to bits to have influenced someone who writes as well as this. I am grinning like a loon at all the familiar NZ/Canterbury references in “Guardian”, and having random attacks of nostalgia. Her characters are wonderful, and I would have LOVED to have read this as a teen - Ellie would have been an instant literary friend.
Here is a link to a short story by Karen “Queen Of The Kitchen”, and info on her novel is at the same website. Buy, read, enjoy!
Karen, I was in Borders today, and there were half a dozen or so copies of the paperback displayed prominently in the YA section - face out. Very exciting!