Cuckoo Song

'Everyone should read Frances Hardinge. Everyone. Right now.' Patrick Ness

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge, Costa Award winning author of The Lie Tree, is a fantastically eerie and beautifully written novel, and was shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal.

The first things to shift were the doll's eyes, the beautiful grey-green glass eyes. Slowly they swivelled, until their gaze was resting on Triss's face. Then the tiny mouth moved, opened to speak.

'What are you doing here?' It was uttered in tones of outrage and surprise, and in a voice as cold and musical as the clinking of cups. 'Who do you think you are? This is my family.'

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out.

Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it's too late . . .


It's magical, menacing stuff (theguardian.com)

This multi-layered fantastical novel is one to curl up with and savour. I can't recommend it highly enough. (Guardian)

The sense of identity that Frances creates in all of her characters, whether minor or major, makes real, tangible, interesting personalities that are a genuine joy to spend time with. (Frances Hardinge Interview with Holdfast holdfasrmagazine.com)

'All was perhaps. Nothing was certain. And that, that was wonderful.' I am opening this review with Cuckoo Song's closing words because there is a wonderfulness about them, an intrinsic quality to those words that at once show the excellence of the book at a sentence level and also perfectly encapsulate the thematic core of the novel: its heart and soul, if you will... a supremely well-written novel (thebooksmugglers.com)

Cuckoo Song is a deeply moving, multi layered book about finding oneself, where magic and the aftermath of World War I walk hand in hand. (blurbarians.blogspot.co.uk)

An irresistible novel, which I absolutely adored. Not many authors can conjure such an utterly brilliant modern fairytale. (theguardian.com)

With its creepy undertones, authentic backdrop and arresting storyline, Cuckoo Song is the ideal book to get teenagers reading ... and thinking. (lep.co.uk)

Cuckoo Song was a wonderful, sad and chilling book that I couldn't put down. (booksandenchantment.blogspot.co.uk)

Strange, creepy and wonderfully written . . . a magical read that's about as unique as you can get! (throughthegateway.blogspot.com)

A beautifully-written and captivating novel. (Katherine Woodfine booktrust.org.uk)