YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
HISTORICAL FICTION
WITCH CHILD
1659. A time of fear and persecution. Mary, granddaughter of a witch, keeps a diary. It begins:
‘I am Mary. I am a witch…’
She sees her grandmother hanged, is rescued by a stranger, takes ship for America and finds a place in a Puritan community there. All that befalls her, she records in her diary and as she writes, she stitches the pages inside a quilt for discovery would mean death. The quilt lies undisturbed for more than three hundred years. Then, during the process of conservation, the diary is discovered. Her story can be told.
Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Witch Child is to be one of seven key titles selected for a major exhibition ‘Once There Was Magic’ at Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, Newcastle.
AWARDS
Prix Roman Millepages 2002 (France)
Prix Sorcières 2003 Awarded by l’Association des Librairies Spécialisées pour la Jeunesse – The Association of Booksellers specializing in books for young people (France)
Cento Literary Prize (Italy) second prize
Shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award 2001
Shortlisted for the North East Book Award (NEBA) 2002
REVIEWS
“cleverly constructed and written with both grace and urgency”
“This is a powerful, absorbing and unusual novel”
“This has definitely been one of the highlights of this year”
“compelling and convincing. Rees has become a major writer for teenage readers”
“With sales of 100,000 plus in the UK this is a welcome addition to the audiobook catalogue and not only for teenagers since adults will enjoy this modern wry twist on a witch-hunt set in England and the New World of the Pilgrims. Don’t dare to miss this tour-de-force that has gripping and undoubtedly uneasy undertow”
SORCERESS
The sequel to Witch Child. Shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Award 2002.
Over three hundred years separate Agnes Herne from Mary Newbury, but they are linked inextricably by more than blood. Some of Mary’s special powers have come down to Agnes and through her the rest of Mary’s remarkable story can be told.
2003, Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Sorceress is to be re-published to celebrate 20 years of Witch Child.
PIRATES!
The true and remarkable adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pyrates. What would make two young women take to the high seas and a life of piracy? Nancy Kington is the daughter of a rich merchant, Minerva Sharpe a slave on her father’s plantation. Divided by birth and fortune, together these two find friendship and break the bounds of gender, race and social position to follow their own destiny.
Pirates! was shortlisted for the W. H. Smith 2004 Book Awards.
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SOVAY
Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and its impact on British politics, this action-driven novel shows once again that Celia Rees is one of our very best writers for teenage readers.
Wild and beautiful, spoilt and wilful, Sovay finds that her cosseted upbringing in rural England has not prepared her for life as a highway robber, for defending the honour of her family or for trying to save herself from corruption and evil.
As Sovay becomes more and more embroiled in adventures she could never have imagined, a story of dark intrigue, thwarted passions and sinister intentions is revealed to her. Will she be able to survive, and if she does so, at what cost?
2008, Bloomsbury Children’s Books
THE FOOL’S GIRL
Violetta and Feste are in London, the year is 1601 and William Shakespeare is enjoying success at the Globe Theatre. But Violetta is not there to admire his plays; she is in England to retrieve her country's greatest treasure, stolen by the evil Malvolio, and she needs help.
In an adventure that stretches from the shores of Illyria to the Forest of Arden, romance and danger go hand in hand. In a quest that could mean life or death, can Violetta manage to recover the precious relic and save her country and herself?
2010, Bloomsbury
REVIEWS
“Ambitious, clever and compelling . . . Rees’s imagination makes her gloriously unpredictable.”
“The lushly romantic story is very involving and always enjoyable, and it’s packed with wonderfully evocative details.”
“A sophisticated, compelling novel about creativity, sexual ambiguity and cunning. It should be required reading for readers of 13+ studying the play.”
“A sparkling, intelligent, well textured novel for younger teenagers of both sexes.”
