Mud
Binding: Paperback
Imprint: Andersen Press
Age 11+
Family & Home Stories Personal & Social Issues: Family Issues Humorous Stories School Stories
LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL
An achingly funny, touching story for anyone who has been thrown in at the deep end.
‘Smart and funny. It will tug at your heartstrings’ Dawn O’Porter
It's 1979, and thirteen-year-old Lydia has no idea how she'll cope when her dad announces that the family has to sell up and move onto a Thames sailing barge in Essex. With his girlfriend. And her three kids.
Between trying to keep her clothes dry in a leaky cabin, disastrous hair-dye attempts, awkward encounters with local boys, and coping with her suddenly enormous and troublesome family, Lydia fears she'll sink rather than swim . . .
At turns heartbreaking and uplifting, through Lydia's innocent and perceptive voice we find out that while the mud may stick, the tide can turn - and in unexpected and joyful ways.
Perfect for fans of Louise Rennison, Hilary McKay and Rae Earl
Creators
Emily Thomas was born in London, and has lived there most of her life – except between the ages of 13 and 18 when she lived in Maldon in Essex on board a Thames Sailing Barge, with her family of seven assorted siblings and stepsiblings and two warring cats. Emily also works as an editor of many different kinds of books, including children’s and young adult fiction. She now lives in Brixton, with no pets and a lot of books.
Reviews
This delectable novel… Historically evocative and full of amusing thoughts, it scoots along with wind in its sails.
Sunday Times, Children's Book of the Week
This original and tender comic novel is an apparent contradiction: a hugely funny story about grief, parental alcoholism and loneliness
Guardian
Touching, warm, heart breaking and hilarious.
BookTrust - Best Kids' Books of 2018
…poignant yet funny novel
Mail on Sunday - Books of the Year 2018
…funny and moving
The Telegraph - 50 Best Books of 2018
…a very accomplished debut that, despite being set in 1979, will resonate powerfully with today’s teenagers who struggle with adolescent insecurities and fractured families.
Daily Mail - Best Books for Christmas 2018
Poignant tale of a teenage diarist and her flaky father…. Lydia’s voice – a mixture of protest and reconciliation – is the book’s genius.
Daily Telegraph
Mud is a dark comedy of family implosion and Thomas’s evocation of wry, romantic adolescence is impeccable.
i News
A searing and touching portrait of a family overwhelmed by grief under the shadows of alcoholism and emotional neglect. A remarkably assured debut, based on the author’s own life.
Daily Mail
Equal parts funny and heart-breaking, Lydia’s knowing yet naïve voice shines through. Think I Capture The Castle set on a boat.
Red Magazine
Funny and touching
HELLO!
An unforgettable read, honest, painful, and full of lines and observations to make you laugh out loud… Like the mud that the Lady Beatrice sits on, Mud will stick to readers, it’s a book that colours your view of the world as the pages turn.
Books for Keeps, Book of the Week
Funny, poignant and perfectly-formed, this is a triumph of true-to-life storytelling.
Lovereading4Kids
Utterly irresistible… as enchanting a novel as I Capture the Castle
Natasha Farrant
Conjures up the eighties, adolescence and eccentric families in all their glory and awfulness. A worthy successor to I Capture the Castle.
Joanna Nadin
Mud charts realistically the challenges of family life as they cope with adolescence, bereavement and loss. Lydia’s diary is authentic and consistent and acutely observed; it is funny and poignant, moving and smart.
ReadingZone
A smart, funny and often poignant debut
The Bookseller
There is humour, anxiety, sadness and a complete belief in all the characters in this excellent story.
Carousel
Written in diary format, Mud conjures an authentic, engaging voice to chronicle the joys and challenges of family, adolescence and life … [Mud] is moving, funny and acutely observed.
Inis Reading Guide
Based on the author’s own unconventional upbringing on a Thames Barge, Mud is an unusual and touching roman a clef.
Lovereading4Kids
Filled with complicated relationships, forgiveness and learning to make do, this is a fascinating read.
MinervaReads
Mud knocks your socks off with an exceptional lightness of touch, distilling complicated family life and all the insecurities of adolesence.
Angels and Urchins
…plenty of heartwarming moments.
Teach Secondary
