LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
“The day is long, the world is wide, you’re young and free,” Davie’s mam announces at the start of a sweltering day. But Davie doesn’t feel that way. He recently lost his dad and “he hates this dead-end place, where nothing seems to happen, nothing seems to change. Sometimes he just wants to walk out of it and keep on walking and leave it all behind”. Then this morning, as Davie walks through his hometown, David discovers that something has happened - a local lad has been killed, and Davie thinks he knows who’s responsible.
Amidst the speculation of his Tyneside neighbours, Davie embarks on a pilgrimage of sorts, encountering a cast of wisdom-imparting folk along the way. There’s wooden-legged Wilf who shares advice and fruit gums; the openhearted priest who makes a confession; the girls creating a “world of wonders” garden. While walking, Davie feels the flutter and ache of grief as “bleak, black memories” surface but, as a friend of his father says, “sometimes a memory or a dream is a fine place to be”. “What is lost might be discovered again, but in a different form”, counsels another character. And as he continues on his way, watching out for the murder suspect, Davie seems to find his father in another form.
Wise and soulfully unexpected, this is truly a book for all ages, by an author who exudes the uncanny elegance of a master conjurer.
David Almond says: 'I guess it embodies my constant astonishment at being alive in this beautiful, weird, extraordinary world.'
The Costa Judges said : ‘One of the most beautiful, transcendent books in the competition.’
Joanne Owen
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The Colour of the Sun Synopsis
The day is long, the world is wide, you're young and free. One hot summer morning, Davie steps boldly out of his front door. The world he enters is very familiar - the little Tyneside town that has always been his home - but as the day passes, it becomes ever more mysterious. A boy has been killed, and Davie thinks he might know who is responsible. He turns away from the gossip and excitement and sets off roaming towards the sunlit hills above the town. As the day goes on, the real and the imaginary start to merge, and Davie knows that neither he nor his world will ever be the same again. This an outstanding novel full of warmth and light, from a multi-award-winning author. David Almond says: 'I guess it embodies my constant astonishment at being alive in this beautiful, weird, extraordinary world.'
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9781444919554 |
Publication date: |
3rd May 2018 |
Author: |
David Almond |
Publisher: |
Hodder Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Children's Group |
Format: |
Hardback |
Primary Genre |
Young Adult Fiction
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Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
David Almond Press Reviews
Beautiful, dream-like story about a boy, a crime, a feud, and growing up in a small town. It's warm and loving and manages to be both intimate and expansive. A beautiful, beautiful read. - The Bookbag
This book yearns with nostalgia for the cusp between boyhood and manhood...It is lyrical, transcendental and shot through with dialect voices. SUNDAY TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK -- Nicolette Jones - The Sunday Times
Finally, the pure joy and exhilaration of being young and alive on a perfect summer's day is captured to stunning effect in David Almond's The Colour of the Sun (Hodder GBP12.99)...Lyrical and unforgettable, it's Almond's most autobiographical novel to date and possibly his most beautiful. -- Fiona Noble - The Observer
The Colour of the Sun is really, really something. - Woman's Way
David Almond at his finest...this is a lyrical and moving story about a boy on the cusp of manhood...There is a touching innocence to this book and a warmth that glows from every page. -- Beth Goodyear - The Scotsman
brilliantly suspenseful until the end...He [David Almond] is that rare thing - a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes. -- Emily Bearn - The Daily Telegraph
The book explores liminal spaces: the edgelands between child and adult, being and seeming, life and death and the human and natural worlds. - The Guardian
Author
About David Almond
In March 2010 David Almond won The Hans Christian Andersen Award which is presented every other year to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature.
Julia Eccleshare on David Almond:
One of the best-loved and finest writers of today, David Almond made an immediate impact with Skellig, his first book. The moving story of a boy’s discovery of a strange creature in the shed which can be interpreted in many ways introduced some to the recurrent themes of David Almond’s writing. Infused with a touch of magic or the supernatural or ‘belief’, David Almond writes sensitively about the inner complexities of growing up. Much influenced by the landscape of Tyneside where he was brought up and still lives, David Almond’s books have a strong sense of place especially in titles such as Heaven’s Eyes, The Fire-Eater and Kit’s Wilderness. Although often clearly set in some particular time, there is a timeless quality to David Almond’s stories which give them enduring appeal.
As a child
I grew up in a large Catholic family in Felling-on-Tyne: four sisters and one brother. I always knew I'd be a writer – I wrote stories and stitched them into little books. I had an uncle who was a printer, and in his printing shop I learned my love of black words on white pages. I loved our local library and dreamed of seeing books with my name on the cover on its shelves. I also dreamed of playing for Newcastle United (and I still wait for the call!). There was much joy in my childhood, but also much sadness: a baby sister died when I was 7; my dad died when we were all still young; my mum was always seriously ill with arthritis. But it was a childhood, like all childhoods, that provided everything a writer needs, and it illuminates and informs everything I write.
As an adult
After school, I read English and American Literature. When I graduated I became a teacher – long holidays, short days, just perfect for a writer. After 5 years, I gave up the job and lived in a commune in rural Norfolk where I wrote and met my partner Sara Jane. I wrote a long adult novel that was rejected by every UK publisher. I had two collections of short stories published by the tiny IRON Press. I started another adult novel, put it aside, and suddenly, out of the blue, I found myself writing Skellig. It was as if the story had been waiting for me, and once I began, it seemed to write itself. I hadn't expected to write a children's novel, but in some way it was the natural outcome of everything I'd done before, and was the stepping-stone to everything I've done since. I now live in Northumberland with Sara Jane and our daughter Freya. I'm a full-time writer. Sara Jane makes ceramics, Freya goes to school.
As an artist
For years, I was hardly published and hardly anyone knew about me apart from a handful of keen fans. And I made just about no money at all from writing. That didn't really matter to me. I'd keep on writing, no matter what. Then I wrote Skellig and everything changed. I began to sell lots of books, to be translated into many languages, to travel, to win lots of prizes. I've written a number of novels after Skellig, including Kit's Wilderness, The Fire-Eaters and Clay. There have been stage versions of the novels, and films and an opera are on their way. I used to write in the attic at home, but there were lots of distractions – especially from email and telephone. So last year, I had a cabin built at the bottom of the garden. It's very nice, blue-grey and surrounded by trees. I have a radiator to keep me warm and I have a tap and a kettle for making tea. Every morning – when I'm at home and not travelling or making school visits or talking to people on the phone or answering emails – I carry my laptop down to the cabin and I set to work.
Things you didn't know about David Almond
• I once held the school high-jump record – 5 ft 2.5 inches.
• I have a pet rabbit called Bill who can grunt.
• I dream about football – and kick in my sleep!
• I love Japanese food – except for the thing I was given once that looked like an alien's brain.
• I've taken part in three Great North Runs (half-marathons).
• My favourite place is Upper Swaledale in Yorkshire.
• I love bikes, camping and fires.
• My first TV appearance was as an altar boy in a televised mass when I was eleven.
• My grandfather was a bookie (he took bets on horse races). His advice? "Never bet." He also told me, "Never read novels. They're all just lies."
• My nickname at school was Dai, and several old friends still call me that.
More About David Almond