Two very different lives. One shared hope for a brighter future. No time to waste. The flood is coming...
Eleven-year-old Norah Day lives in temporary accommodation, relies on foodbanks for dinner, and doesn't have a mum. But she's happy enough, as she has a dad, a pet mouse, a pet spider, and a whole zoo of rescued local wildlife to care for. Eleven-year-old Adam Sinclair lives with his parents in a nice house with a big garden, a private tutor, and everything he could ever want. But his life isn't perfect - far from it. He's recovering from leukaemia and is questioning his dream of becoming a champion swimmer. When a nest of baby birds brings them together, Norah and Adam discover they're not so different after all. Can Norah help Adam find his confidence again? Can Adam help Norah solve the mystery of her missing mother? And can their teamwork save their zoo of rescued animals from the rising flood?
Offering powerful lessons in empathy, Norah's Ark is a hopeful and uplifting middle-grade tale for our times about friendship and finding a sense of home in the face of adversity.
Book source ~ TWR Tour
29 August 2023
Middle Grade
304 Pages
My Rating ~ 5 bites
Norah Day and Adam Sinclair are both eleven and worlds apart. What brings them together is a nest of baby birds. Suddenly, life shifts for them both.
Oh, my Book Gods. This is a fantastic story of imperfect lives that collide and create a whole new direction for two great kids. You just never know how people you meet by chance will affect the course you are steering through life.
Well-written and full of heart, this is a MG book that’s good for all ages. Norah and Adam are going through things that the author addresses with delicacy and yet is forthright as well. The struggles they face could be any one of us at any time. I flipped pages as fast as real life would allow me, wanting to know what happens next. With a happily ever after that could have ended so much differently (and not in a good way) you really don’t want to pass this one up.
Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.
Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.
Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.
I agree - it is a good ending that leaves the reader with a sense of hope.
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