The Notted Island

Child, who trained as an illustrator, originally envisaged the story as a graphic novel. But she turns out to be a superb storyteller, with her beautifully imagined fantasy landscape brought to life in lyrical prose... -- Emily Bearn * The Telegraph, 'A quest that will delight intrepid readers' *
To say that Katherine Child's The Notted Island is an oddity doesn't quite do justice to the charm and strangeness of a world based on a word: 'Notte/Verb: The act of drawing the fabric of the night across the sky at close of day, or removing it at dawn.' The notte ('one who nottes') of Last Island is becoming more erratic in her timing, so an intrepid girl, Tisky, decides to alert her to the threat from a sinister salesman who wants to sell an automated system for opening and closing the night sky. On her way, she picks up a shadow from a sundial, Jinks, for company. Like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the fantasy is grounded in Tisky's sturdy common sense and in vivid illustrations. -- Melanie McDonagh * The Spectator *
Katherine Child is a unique new talent, and The Notted Island is an extraordinary debut: reading it feels like stumbling over a forgotten children's classic in the back room of a dusty antique bookstore, full of treasures, and reading agog at the wonders inside. Strange, delirious, gorgeously illustrated, and with a captivating voice, it's part Diana Wynne Jones, part James Thurber, and utterly distinctive. I can't wait to see what she makes next. * Ross Montgomery, Author of I Am Rebel, Waterstone's Children's Book of the Year Winner *