Raphael Selbourne and Patrick Ness win Costa book awards!
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Date: 05 January 2010 |
Raphael Selbourne's BEAUTY won the 2009 Costa First Novel Award and has been described by judges as 'pitch perfect on every level'. Beauty - in name and appearance - is a twenty-year-old Bangladeshi, back in England having disgraced her family by fleeing an abusive arranged marriage. Placed on the jobseeker's treadmill and under continuing domestic pressure, in desperation she runs away. Her fractious encounters with officialdom, fellow claimants and passers-by in the city streets, exacerbated by the restrictions (and comfort) of her language and culture, place her at the mercy of such unlikely helpers as Mark, a friendly Staffordshire Bull Terrier-breeding ex-offender, and Peter, a middle-class underachiever. Determined and spirited, yet tormented by doubts, Beauty is forced to examine her own beliefs and think seriously about her future. While her brothers search for her across the city, the conflict between her desire for personal freedom and her sense of family duty deepens. What will she do? Patrick Ness scooped the Costa Children's Book Award with THE ASK AND THE ANSWER (the second title in THE CHAOS WALKING trilogy), described by judges as 'a strikingly original and compelling work' Patrick Ness is the author of THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Book One of THE CHAOS WALKING TRILOGY which won the 2008 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the BookTrust Teenage Prize. He has written two other books for adults and is a literary critic for the Guardian. To read more about the Costa Book Awards 2009 click here |
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