Lorali
Colourful, raw, brave, rich and fantastical - this mermaid tale is not for the faint-hearted.
Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn't exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.
Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.
But along with Lorali's arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory's bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?
Laura Dockrill is a performance poet and novelist whose inventive and vibrant approach to life is reflected in the vividly imagined worlds she creates. Laura finds creativity in words - from poetry to novels, and scripts to song lyrics. She is author of the Carnegie Medal nominated YA novel Lorali, as well as the Darcy Burdock series (Random House) for younger readers, which was also nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2014, and My Mum is Growing Down (Faber). Laura has appeared on Blue Peter and CBeebies and is a frequent poet performer at festivals such as Glastonbury, Hay, Edinburgh and Latitude.
She loves to visit schools and meet young readers who are as spirited as her. In 2020 her first adult title, What Have I Done? which discussed her own experience with post-partum psychosis was published to widespread critical acclaim. Laura lives in London with her husband and young son. You can follow her on Twitter @LauraDockrill