Set in modern Northumberland, this intriguing retelling of the tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice is told by teenager Claire, Ella’s (Eurydice’s) best friend. Orpheus, a beautiful young man with a lyre and dreamy haunting music, appears and charms everyone. He and Ella fall in love and get “married” on the beach, with their artsy friends and some poisonous adders in attendance. A dark passage with eerie visual poetry follows, where Orpheus desperately searches for Ella in the Underworld. The enchanting and romantic writing about love, loss, and destiny makes this old myth fresh. mjw |
Title: A Song For Ella Grey
Author: David Almond
Publisher: Delacorte Press, and imprint of Random House Children’s Books
Copyright: 2015
Original Language: English
Original Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books, London
Original Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 978-0-553-53359-0
Paperback pages: 272
Age range: 12 up
Genre: Fiction, Mythology
Book setting: Northern England
Author’s ethnicity: English
Author’s residence: England
Awards: 2015 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Medal, 2015 Shortlist Ireland YA Book Prize
Subjects: Death, Greek mythology, Love, Music, Poetry, Underworld |