Book description
Following on from The Wish Pony, Catherine Bateson's new novel returns
to the world of magic realism to chart the stormy waters of a child's
grief. When grief strikes, you need an ally. For Mimi, that ally is
Ableth, the wildly disobedient blue slave. He comes, he goes, he says
and does whatever he likes, but he's always there when Mimi needs him
most, offering his own brand of crooked wisdom. Ableth says, 'You need
to learn to look under the surface of things. Look at water. It's just a
great expanse of blue with little wavelets and riffs of foam. But
underneath the surface are whole worlds of wonder. There are treasures
and wrecks and bones . . .' But it's hard to look beneath the surface
when your Mum is shipwrecked by despair, and you're the only one left to
keep things afloat. There's a bric-a-brac shop to run, your first
Christmas without a dad, and quite possibly a fugitive taking refuge in
your back shed. This warm, captivating story celebrates the odd families
we make, as well as those we are born into. Catherine Bateson writes
poetry, verse novels and novels for both younger readers and young
adults. She has won the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers twice
- with RAIN MAY AND CAPTAIN DANIEL, 2003, and Being Bee, 2006. RAIN MAY
AND CAPTAIN DANIEL also won the Queensland Premier's Literary Award.
Three of her other novels, THE WISH PONY, PAINTED LOVE LETTERS and
MILLIE AND THE NIGHT HERON were CBCA Honour Books. MILLIE AND THE NIGHT
HERON was shortlisted for the YABBA and the KOALA Children's Choice
awards, 2007. Her first book for Woolshed Press was the critically
acclaimed THE WISH PONY, which was an Honour Book in the 2009 CBCA Book
of the Year awards.
