When the Stammer Came to Stay

From Maggie O'Farrell, the multi award-winning author of Hamnet, and the stunning imagination of Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, comes a hopeful and powerful new book, based on Maggie's own experience on living with a stammer.

Sisters Bea and Min couldn't be any more different – Bea is neat and tidy; Min is messy and mucky. Together, they are a perfect pair because Min loves to chat and Bea loves to listen. And in their happy differences, they share the attic room at the top of their very tall, narrow house. Then, one day, as Min is chatting, her tongue feels suddenly locked. The words forming in her mouth never make it out. Some days later, still struggling to speak, she sees the most extraordinary thing at her shoulder in a mirror ... a creature, a thing, seizing the words as they rise to her lips, and cramming them into its mouth. Min continues to struggle with her stammer – how can she truly be herself, when she cannot do what she loves most: chat! Bea is the only one who truly sees, and understands, her. Together, they go on a journey of discovery – what IS this creature? – and they find not quite a solution, but a way to make peace with themselves and to love and embrace what makes each of them different.

O’Farrell’s narrative provides comfort and understanding to children who stammer, encouraging empathy and support from those around them. Children's Books Ireland
[a] hopeful and powerful new book The Bookseller
O’Farrell carefully balances realism with comfort, because life won’t be the same again, but the conclusion is reassuring and wise. The Bookseller
Featured in ‘The Best Baby & Toddler Books of 2024’ Waterstones

Maggie O'Farrell is an award-winning Irish-British author. Her books for adults have received international acclaim; she has won the Betty Trask Award for her debut novel After You'd Gone, the Somerset Maugham Award in 2005 for The Distance Between Us, the 2013 Costa Novel Award for The Hand That First Held Mine and her non-fiction book I Am I Am I Am reached number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Most recently, her book Hamnet won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020 and was named Waterstones Book of the Year. It has sold over 700,000 copies in the English language to date, spent sixteen weeks in the top ten in 2020 and went to number 1 in paperback. Hamnet has also been translated into over 31 different countries worldwide. Where Snow Angels Go was her first book for children. Find her online at maggieofarrell.com

Daniela Terrazzini studied Fine Art in Milan and moved to London to study Photography at The London College of Printing. She is now an illustrator of both detailed paintings and graphic surface patterns. She has illustrated The Night I Met Father Christmas by Ben Miller and The Seeing Stitch by Jane Yolan. Follow her on Twitter as @DJTerrazzini and Instagram as @danielajterrazzini.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.