Bone Music

From the bestselling, award-winning David Almond comes a book of hope and joy: under a boundless starry sky, the unforgettable Sylvia Carr finds out what it means to be brave. For readers of Michael Morpurgo and Katherine Rundell, from the author of the beloved Skellig.

She felt like a ghost. She woke in the night. What was that music?

Sylvia has never been so far away. Her mother has brought her to this village, this place of silence and dark, endless forest, and she yearns for the city, the bright lights, her friends, even a phone signal.

Late one night she hears the music, a weird jagged spiralling sound. It is played by Gabriel, a troubled, beautiful boy.

Gabriel uses the strangest of flutes, a hollow bone. Play it well enough, he says, and you cross the borders between the living and the dead.

Sylvia knows she'll follow him into the depths of the forest. But will they ever find their way out again?

Praise for David Almond:

"A master storyteller." Independent

"Spell-binding... impossible to resist... breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond's] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now." Glasgow Herald

"David Almond's books are strange, unsettling wild things - unfettered by the normal constraints of children's literature. They are, like all great literature, beyond classification." Guardian

"[David Almond] is that rare thing - a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes." Daily Telegraph

“A breathtakingly beautiful and lyrical novel”

Lyrical...hypnotic and beautifully written The Daily Mail
This tale from rural Northumberland will stick with you...He explores our place in the world, our connection to nature. At some point it becomes a rather Blakean tale of self-discovery...rich, wise, and never boring The Times Children's Book of the Week
The Bookseller
A remarkable book that already feels like a classic, it is sure to become one The Irish Times
Mystical Financial Times
David Almond's novels are so simple on the surface, so hauntingly mysterious in their depths Financial Times
This is a book of hope and joy - get out of your comfort zone, explore the extraordinary, get in touch with nature and share in the belief that young & old can create a better world. Young Writers

David Almond is the author of Skellig, My Name is Mina, Island, Bone Music and many other novels, stories, picture books, opera librettos, songs and plays. His work is translated into 40 languages, and is widely adapted for stage and screen. His major awards include the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbread Awards, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, the Michael L Printz Award (USA), Le Prix Sorcieres (France), the Nonino International Prize, the James Kruss Prize and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world's most prestigious prize for children's authors. In 2021, David was awarded an OBE for services to literature.

David speaks at festivals and conferences around the world. He is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. He is widely regarded as one of the most exciting, inspirational and innovative children's authors writing today. He has one amazing daughter. He lives in Newcastle, the city in which he was born.

This wonderful tale transports the reader from the city to the forests and fells of Northern England. Under a boundless starry sky, the unforgettable Sylvia Carr reconnects with the ancient past and discovers what it really means to be young in the world today. Sylvia, brave hearted and rebellious, moves into wild Northumberland from the city of Newcastle. She feels alien in this huge, silent, seemingly empty landscape, but then she meets Gabriel, a strange yet familiar boy. As they roam the forests and fells together, she sees nature with new eyes. She becomes aware that the past is all around her, and is deep inside herself. From the wing of a dead buzzard, they create a hollow bone - the kind of flute that was created and used in rituals in the distant past. This is a book of hope and joy - a book that celebrates humanity and explores the deep connections between ourselves and nature. It is timely and original. It speaks to young people about what it really is to be a human being alive today."Spell-binding... impossible to resist... breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond's] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now." The Glasgow Herald"David Almond's books are strange, unsettling wild things - unfettered by the normal constraints of children's literature. They are, like all great literature, beyond classification." The Guardian"[David Almond] is that rare thing - a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes." The Daily Telegraph"A writer of visionary Blakean intensity." The Times"A master storyteller." The Independent

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