Where the Heart Should Be
The Times Children's Book of the Week
Published on 13. February 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
432 pages
978-1-5266-6657-4 (ISBN)
Description
'A beautiful, perfect, moving read' - Cecelia Ahern, author of PS, I Love You
The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nOg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger.
Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there's not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth. Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family's land, their crops, everything. His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in.
Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all. And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other.
This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart. This is a powerful and unforgettable novel from the phenomenally talented Sarah Crossan.
'A beautifully written, tightly observed novel' - The Times
'Unmissable' - Daily Mail
'Irresistibly emotive' - The Sunday Times
'Thrums with longing, beauty, loss and strength' - Katya Balen, author of October, October
The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nOg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger.
Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there's not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth. Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family's land, their crops, everything. His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in.
Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all. And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other.
This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart. This is a powerful and unforgettable novel from the phenomenally talented Sarah Crossan.
'A beautifully written, tightly observed novel' - The Times
'Unmissable' - Daily Mail
'Irresistibly emotive' - The Sunday Times
'Thrums with longing, beauty, loss and strength' - Katya Balen, author of October, October
Reviews / Votes
One of our finest novelists. Where the Heart Should Be is a thing of beauty. * Phil Earle * Sarah Crossan's writing is powerful and necessary * Matt Goodfellow * A tour de force from Sarah Crossan * Patricia Forde, Laureate na nOg * Where the Heart Should Be thrums with longing, beauty, loss and strength. * Katya Balen * A beautifully written, tightly observed novel... completely absorbing. -- Lucy Bannerman * The Times * With tenderness and unexpected humour, this story is irresistibly emotive as events unfold with almost unbearable tension, mitigated only by the promise at the beginning that true love wins -- Nicolette Jones * Sunday Times * Outstanding... Crossan's economy of words is no barrier to intense emotional impact in this powerhouse of a novel * Observer * A beautiful, perfect, moving read -- Cecelia Ahern Mesmerising, beautiful and full of rage -- Holly Bourne Unmissable * Daily Mail * Terrific on every level * Daily Mail * PRAISE FOR TOFFEE: "Utterly Sublime", - Cecelia Ahern, "Impossible not to read it in a single gulp" - The Times, "Undoubtedly one of the best books of the year" - Irish Times, "Compelling and beautifully wrought" - The Sunday Times, "A book that changes its reader for the better" - The Guardian, "One of our most original writers" - John Boyne PRAISE FOR ONE: "The best book I've read in years. It's a spectacular testament to love. It blows your head back" - Katherine RundellMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Young adult
Interest Age: From 12 to 99 years
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
347 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-6657-4 (9781526666574)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury YA
€12.49
Available for download
E-Book
03/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury YA
€8.49
Available for download
Person
Sarah Crossan has lived in Dublin, London and New York, and now lives in East Sussex. She graduated with a degree in philosophy and literature before training as an English and drama teacher at the University of Cambridge. Sarah was the Laureate na nOg (Ireland's Children's Literature Laureate) from 2018-2020.
IG: @sarahcrossanwriter
IG: @sarahcrossanwriter