Book description
"Be strong, my Abela."
These are the last words of Abela's mother in their HIV/Aids
stricken African village, where it seems that to live or to die, to be
sick or to be healthy, is just a matter of chance. It takes all
Abela's strength to survive her Uncle Thomas's scheming to get to
Europe, but what will be her fate as an illegal immigrant?
"I don't want a sister or brother," thinks Rosa in
England, when her mother tells her that she wants to adopt a child.
Could these two girls ever become sisters? Is there room in Rosa's
family for an African orphan haunted by lions? Is there room in their hearts?
Abela is a powerful and moving story influenced by a
visit to Africa, from the Carnegie Medal-winning author Berlie Doherty
writing at her very best.
Berlie Doherty was born in Liverpool and writes for adults and
children. Her first book, HOW GREEN YOU ARE! was published in 1982 and
she has been a full-time, compulsive writer of novels, stories, poems
and plays since then. She has written over forty books. In 2002 Berlie
Doherty was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Derby for
excellence in her field. She lives in Edale in the Peak District, where
she spends her spare time walking, day-dreaming, and struggling to learn
piano, violin and tin whistle.
