Out on 30 May 2024

A House Without Walls

Elizabeth Laird

Illustrated by Lucy Eldridge & Maria Brzozowska

Ages 9 to 11
30 May 2024
9781035034697
320 pages

Synopsis

From award-winning and beloved childrens author Elizabeth Laird comes a stunning edition of A House Without Walls, with a cover illustration by Maria Brzozowska, an updated author letter and additional content from the author, including discussion notes. A must-read modern classic, this is the powerful story of family, hope and redemption amidst the refugee crisis in Syria, illustrated in black and white by Lucy Eldridge.

Thirteen-year-old Safiya and her family have been driven out of Syria by civil war. Safiya knows how lucky she is – lucky not to be living in a refugee camp, and lucky to be alive. But it's hard to feel grateful when she's living in a tent in her cousin's yard, forced to look after her father and brother rather than go back to school. And, now that she's lost her home, she's lonelier than ever.

As the family struggle to rebuild their lives, Safiya realizes that her family has always been incomplete, and with her own future in the balance, it's time to uncover the secrets that war has kept buried.

This edition includes brilliant extra material, such as:
- An author letter by Elizabeth Laird
- Extra content from the author, including reading group questions

[H]umane and empathetic . . . Not only eye-opening, important and topical, but a vivid, emotionally involving, nail-biting read . . .an effective call to action.
A muscular, moving, thought-provoking book from an award-winning writer
Not only does it explain how the war in Syria began in as clear a way as I have ever heard but [Elizabeth Laird] makes her characters lovable, loathable - and believable. They are children of war but not defined by it . . . fascinating and sing[s] with truth.