The Home Child
by Liz Berry
£9.99
Books > Poetry > Staff Picks
Inspired by a true story, a beautiful novel-in-verse about a child far from home. From award-winning poet Liz Berry.
In 1908, Eliza Showell, twelve years old and newly orphaned, boards a ship that will carry her from the slums of the Black Country to rural Nova Scotia.
She will never return to Britain or see her family again. She is a Home Child, one of thousands of British children sent to Canada to work as indentured farm labourers and domestic servants. In Nova Scotia, Eliza’s world becomes a place where ordinary things are transfigured into treasures – a red ribbon, the feel of a foal’s mane, the sound of her name on someone else’s lips.
With nothing to call her own, the wild beauty of Cape Breton is the only solace Eliza has – until another Home Child, a boy, comes to the farm and changes everything. Inspired by the true story of Liz Berry’s great aunt, this spellbinding novel in verse is an exquisite portrait of a girl far from home.
‘Vivid, compassionate and makes Eliza Showell’s voice heard at last’ Financial Times
*WINNER OF THE WRITERS’ PRIZE – BOOK OF THE YEAR
**WINNER OF THE WRITERS’ PRIZE FOR POETRY*