Kiran Millwood Hargrave – The Hearing Trumpet

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is the Sunday Times bestselling author of novels for children and adults including the Geomancer trilogy, a series about the magic of nature, the lure of power and the strength of love.  Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages and optioned for stage and screen. They’ve been short- and long-listed for numerous awards including the Carnegie Medal, Costa Book Awards, and have won a Betty Trask Award, British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, amongst others. She lives in Oxford with her husband, daughter, and cats.

‘I love a novella – a short, sharp shock of a book, devourable in a day but whose effects last forever. Conciseness is one of the qualities I most admire in stories – though of course epic tales can be concise in their way, cutting to the heart of the matter over 800 pages. But sometimes, you want to fall into a tale and back out again, like Alice, in time for tea.

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington is an uproarious, anarchic, surreal joy of a book, about an elderly woman who is packed off to a bizarre nursing home by her family. It’s a short book (perfect if life feels overwhelming), very funny, a bit silly, and excruciatingly tender. Be warned: things get very strange.’

Thank you to Kiran Millwood Hargrave for recommending this book!

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