Aurabel

Description

Laura Dockrill makes a dramatic return to the sea set in the same world as the sparkling and magnetic mermaid story, Lorali.It has been two years since Rory drowned, and Lorali is in Hastings, living the quiet life of a normal teenage girl. But her safe life on land won't last for long. Life in The Whirl has become a hotbed of underwater politics and as the council jostles to oust the king, one Mer in particular has her eye on Lorali as the key to her own rise to power.Meanwhile, Aurabel, a lowly Mer from the wrong side of the trench, is attacked by sea beasts and left for dead - and without a tail. Raging with righteous anger, she rebuilds herself a mechanical tail and reinvents herself as a fearless steampunk Mer seeking revenge. But she never expected the most important job that was about to drop into her lap. Laura Dockrill's imagination explodes any pre-conceived ideas about mermaids and creates a curious, hilarious, riotous adventure not to be missed.

Laura Dockrill is a performance poet and novelist whose wonderfully inventive and vibrant approach to life is reflected in the rich and vividly imagined worlds she creates. Laura grew up in Brixton and attended the Brit School. Laura has always had a vivacious spark, finding creativity in words - from poetry to novels and scripts to song lyrics. She is author of the Carnegie Medal nominated YA novel Lorali, as well as the Darcy Burdock series (Random House) for younger readers, which was also nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2014. Other books include Echoes (Harper Collins), a collection of poems and short stories. Laura has appeared on Blue Peter and CBeebies and is a frequent poet performer at festivals including Glastonbury, Hay, Edinburgh, London Literary Festival and Latitude. Children's books are at the heart of her work. She curated The Wondercrump World of Roald Dahl exhibition at the Southbank Centre and loves to visit schools and festivals and meet young readers who are as spirited as her. Laura lives in London and is currently working on her new teen novel, a play and a poetry collection. You can follow her on Twitter @LauraDockrill.

AURABEL is as magical and lyrical and brilliant and special and original as its author, the lovely Laura Dockrill. I adored it. -- Katherine Webber * Twitter * Laura Dockrill's criminally underrated YA books are about mermaids; but mermaids as you've never seen them before. Aurabel is the follow-up to 2015's Lorali and they're both lovely, lyrical, beautifully weird books about a matriarchal community where mermaids are the salvaged bodies of women wronged by society. There's so much magic and fun and brilliant world building layered with sharp commentary about women's bodies and growing up - all written in Dockrill's gorgeous style which is fiercely contemporary and poetic all at the same time. * The Pool * Aurabel is quite unlike anything else being published this year * Culture Fly * Vibrant, savage and funny, AURABEL is a mermaid tale for modern times. * Kiran Millwood Hargrave, winner of 2017 Waterstones Children's Prize * I found Dockrill's writing very unique and interesting * The Books Are Everywhere * the story raises some very interesting issues about body image, internet fandom and what it means to be human * INIS Reading Guide *