Winner of the Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2019

We have signed copies of Stone Girl available online and at Readings Kids.

A heartbreaking novel of raw survival and hope, and the children society likes to forget. A stunning and unforgettable debut YA.An unspeakable event changes everything for twelve-year-old Sophie. No more Mum, school or bed of her own. She’s made a ward of the state and grows up in a volatile world where kids make their own rules, adults don’t count and the only constant is change.Until one day she meets Gwen, Matty and Spiral. Spiral is the most furious, beautiful boy Sophie has ever known. And as their bond tightens she finally begins to confront what happened in her past.I’m at the police station. There’s blood splattered across my face  and clothes. In this tiny room with walls the colour of winter sky I hug  a black backpack full of treasures. Only one thing is certain … no one can ever forgive me for what I’ve done.Praise for Eleni Hale’s Stone Girl:

‘Eleni Hale’s Stone Girl is one of the most compelling YA novels I have read in a long time.’ – 2019 guest judge, Cath Crowley‘Hale’s prose is precise and powerful, deftly balancing bleakness with glimmers of hard-won hope and inner steel. Stone Girl is a crucial and heartbreaking contemporary story for an informed generation.’ – Georgia Phelan, chair of judges