Nicky Singer is an author and playwright. She has written a number of books for children and adults, across fiction and non-fiction. Her first children's novel Feather Boy won the Blue Peter 'Book of the Year' Award, was adapted for TV (winning a BAFTA for Best Children's Drama) and commissioned by the National Theatre as a musical.
gripping near-future story
*The Financial Times*
Set in an another bleak, all-too-imaginable near future, Nicky
Singer's The Survival Game (Hodder) follows 14-year-old Mhairi as
she returns to her birthplace on the Isle of Arran, with an empty
gun, her identity papers and a mute five-year-old in tow. In a
world of hard borders, coldly allocated resources, truncated
lifespans and judicial murder, traumatic loss has already robbed
Mhairi of much of her humanity - has she enough left to keep her
soul alive? Singer's bitter, demanding book is shot through with
piercingly bright, unforgettable images.
*The Guardian*
Nicky Singer pulls no punches in this hard, harrowing, skillful
story, which shows how thin the facade of civilization is and how
easy it is to brutalize not only a person but an entire society.
There is hope - at its heart, Mhairi's tale is that of a human
being, desensitized by necessity, learning to connect once
more.
*Armadillo magazine*
Teenage readers will find much to savour in Nicky Singer's Survival
Game (Hachette) Set in a not-so-distant future, the heroine's
troubles and dangerous journey is strangely relevant. With lyrical
prose and a political heartbeat, this is essential reading for fans
of dystopian literature
*Ham & High Newspaper*
A particularly pertinent read. Singer's provocative book poses big
ethical questions and has an endling likely to polarise readers
*The Guardian*
'A powerful story. It's searingly beautiful but both terrifying and
deeply sad. Nicky Singer writes with lyricism...But The Survival
Game isn't just beautifully written...it's raw and energetic,
lyrical and beautiful, intense and passionate. It also asks
important questions and requires the reader to interrogate her or
himself...It's an absolute tour de force.'
*The Book Bag*
A wonderful, surprisingly delicate story about a teenager making
her way home to Scotland in a world remade by climate change (aimed
at YA readers but, like all good children's books, good for adults
too)
*i Weekend*
A haunting novel, beautifully written that will stay with you long
after the last page
*WRD Magazine*
extraordinary novel
*The Letterpress Project*
Recent news about the treatment of refugee children makes this a
particularly pertinent read. Singer's gripping and provocative book
poses big ethical questions, and has an ending likely to polarise
readers.
*The Observer*
Set in an another bleak, all-too-imaginable near future, Nicky
Singer's The Survival Game (Hodder) follows 14-year-old Mhairi as
she returns to her birthplace on the Isle of Arran, with an empty
gun, her identity papers and a mute five-year-old in tow. In a
world of hard borders, coldly allocated resources, truncated
lifespans and judicial murder, traumatic loss has already robbed
Mhairi of much of her humanity - has she enough left to keep her
soul alive? Singer's bitter, demanding book is shot through with
piercingly bright, unforgettable images.
*The Guardian*
In this gripping near-future story, Nicky Singer tackles two urgent
contemporary issues - global warming and mass migration. Desperate
people are moving north, and Scotland is the new destination of
dreams. Resilient 14-year-old Mhairi Bain is on her way to the Isle
of Arran where her grandmother lives. Travelling alone, she has
witnessed horrors that include the deaths of both parents. Tough
but not heartless, she has taken pity on a mute African boy on the
way.
The chapters are short and tense, written in a boiled-down style.
As a way of dealing with her trauma, Mhairi has created 'Castle', a
mental fortress in which to conceal bad memories. It's a neat
narrative device. The pair face many obstacles, dangers and border
crossings, dramatizing the plight of the migrant in a world,
compellingly evoked here, that is both oddly familiar and yet
horrifyingly changed.
*The Financial Times*
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