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My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Audiobook
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Publisher Description
My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece.
Well, some of her does.
A collarbone, two ribs, a bit of skull, and a little toe.
To ten-year-old Jamie, his family has fallen apart because of the loss of someone he barely remembers: his sister Rose, who died five years ago in a terrorist bombing. To his father, life is impossible to make sense of when he lives in a world that could so cruelly take away a ten-year-old girl. To Rose's surviving fifteen year old twin, Jas, everyday she lives in Rose's ever present shadow, forever feeling the loss like a limb, but unable to be seen for herself alone.
Told with warmth and humor, this powerful story is a sophisticated take on one family's struggle to make sense of the loss that's torn them apart... and their discovery of what it means to stay together.
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“Socompletely does David Tennant slip into the authentic voice and point of viewof ten-year-old Jamie that the listener is immediately immersed in the story.Tennant doesn’t perform vocal acrobatics, and we don’t need him to: His nuanceddelivery and pleasing Scottish brogue perfectly convey all of Jamie’sbewilderment, frustration, grief, and fears as he navigates the choppy watersof adolescence…Pitcher’s writing is full of humor and charm, even when dealingwith difficult subject matter including bullying, racism, alcoholism, and thedeath of a loved one. Listeners will give their hearts over to Jamie, hissister Jas, his friend Sunya, and his cat Roger. Winner of an AudioFile EarphonesAward.”
— AudioFile
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“[A] powerfully honest, quirkily humorous debut novel…Jamie’s pivotal friendship with a Muslim girl, Sunya, is a standout. Pitcher tackles grief, prejudice, religion, bullying, and familial instability through the unsentimental voice of a boy who loves Spider-Man and Manchester United, misses his mother, and—truth be told—doesn’t remember his dead sister all that well. The adults in Pitcher’s story may be a mess, but the kids are all right.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“As a study of grief’s collateral damage, it deals with the topic realistically without losing sight of hope. Jamie is a frank narrator whose naïveté is tempered by the wisdom he acquires. He relies on his relationship with Jas for stability and eventually sets his own moral compass. An outstanding first novel.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Capturing the confusion of an optimistic but sensitive child navigating a tough situation without guidance, Jamie’s narration is by turns comic and painful…Each character is believably flawed, and readers anticipate the heartbreaking scene when Jamie’s plans for a family reunion fail. However, the final triumphant chapters of this striking debut demonstrate that even as Jamie’s sorrows increase, so too, does his capacity for understanding, courage, and love.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“This book is a great catalyst for opening conversations about death and loss as well as difficult discussions about hatred and prejudice.”
— Children’s Literature -
“Compelling and believable…By turns heartbreaking and hysterically funny…This is an important book that could be used in classes and book-discussion groups. Don’t let it fall through the cracks.”
— School Library Journal (starred review) -
“This is a book which could easily have sunk under the weight of sentimentality. That it doesn’t, that it is an inspiring tale of resilience and kindness, is a tribute to Pitcher. This is a fine debut novel. Truthful, clear-eyed, and wise.”
— Telegraph (UK) -
“It lives off the page. It has a warmth you can bask in; an honesty you can cut with a knife.”
— Guardian (UK) -
"It lives off the page. It has a warmth you can bask in; an honesty you can cut with a knife." —The Guardian UK
Awards
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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Named a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books for Children for 2013
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Longlisted for the 2011 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize
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A 2013 ALA Notable Book for Children
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Winner of the 2012 Atlantic Wire YA/Middle-Grade Award for Most Deftly Handled
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About Annabel Pitcher
Annabel Pitcher graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English Literature and went on to edit television scripts for the comedy Harry Hill and the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. Annabel started writing My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece longhand in Ecuador, on a round-the-world trip. She lives in Yorkshire with her husband.
About David Tennant
David Tennant, Earphones Award-winning narrator, is a Scottish actor who, over twenty years, has starred on stage, screen, television, and radio. In 2008 he played a widely praised Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company but is probably best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 television serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch Jr. in the 2005 film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. On stage he has played Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing, as well as the title roles in Hamlet and Richard II.