Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2015.
May 2015 Debut of the Month.
A year in the life of a northern British Mormon family. You’ll certainly learn a lot about the Mormon church but the thrust of the novel is how a family of four kids with a housewife mother and a devout bishop father cope with the death of four year old Issy. It is Jacob’s seventh birthday when Issy becomes unwell. Mum is busy so the two teenage kids, Zippy and Al, are left to mind her. She dies of meningitis. This is lightly written, funny in places, lots of teenage issues and questions of faith, but it is young Jacob’s beliefs that stand out. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
One of the Top 10 books in the Lovereading Readers’ Choice Book of the Year 2014.
One of our Books of the Year 2014.
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2014.
The Costa Judges said Bray's book was “a deeply moving story about grief and faith, told
with the lightest of touches.”
A 'Piece of Passion' from the publisher...
Picking the right words to help persuade you to read A Song For Issy Bradley feels a big responsibility because I think it is such a special novel. Here are three of the reasons why I love it. 1) Each member of the Bradley family feels vividly alive - it took me back to the awful embarrassment of being a teenage girl; made me want to hug seven-year-old Jacob and experience the devastation of a bereaved mother. 2) It made me think. This is a novel about family – but it’s also about faith and doubt and what you do when everything you’ve believe in changes. 3) The writing is beautiful. I’ve read it several times now and each time I notice new lines that make me think, ‘yes, that is exactly right’. - Jocasta Hamilton, Publishing Director, Hutchinson
A letter from the Author...
A Song for Issy Bradley is a meditation on doubt and faith and longed-for miracles. I used to imagine that it was also my personal farewell to the miraculous but, as I reflect on the Bradleys’ story, I notice a tacit acknowledgement that sometimes, in very exceptional circumstances, incredible things just might be possible. - Carys Bray, Southport, October 2013. Cick here to read the full letter.
| Primary Genre | Family Drama |
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Sometimes however much you love someone, you can't understand them. Ian used to think that his life had been disappointingly easy, compared to the pioneers. He had a happy marriage, four children, a satisfactory job and, for just over a year, he has served the church in his role as Bishop of the local congregation, an enormous responsibility. And then Issy died. Now his wife, Claire, won't get out of their dead daughter's bottom bunk and she won't speak. Claire doesn't want a blessing or a sympathy card and she's got nothing to say to the Lord. She just wants to be left alone to be sad. Ian doesn't know what to do to make things better. Zippy and Alma are trying to combine living with grieving and being Mormons with being teenagers. Only seven-year-old Jacob has a plan. He knows that his faith is bigger than a mustard seed; it's at least as big as a toffee bonbon, maybe bigger. It's clear that if he wants Issy back, it's up to him to perform a resurrection miracle.
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A Song for Issy Bradley features in the following genres: Family Drama, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Book Club Recommendations, Fiction, Recommendations, General Fiction
A Song for Issy Bradley is available in Paperback, Hardback
A Song for Issy Bradley was written by Carys Bray and published by Windmill Books an imprint of Cornerstone
A Song for Issy Bradley has 399 pages
£15.29
