A Boy Called Hope
"I’m Dan Hope, and deep inside my head I keep a list of things I want to come true. For example, I want my sister, Ninja Grace, to go to university at the North Pole and only come back once a year. I want to help Sherlock Holmes solve his most daring mystery yet. And if it could be a zombie mystery, all the more exciting. I want to be the first eleven-year-old to land on the moon. I want my dog to stop eating the planets and throwing them up on the carpet. And finally, the biggest dream of all, I want my dad to love me."
‘Warm, heartbreaking and hilarious in turn… a fabulous book about love, families and making sense of life.’
The Sunday Express
‘A beautifully written and heartfelt novel that made me laugh and cry in equal measure.’
Waterstones Booksellers’ Children’s Books of the Year
‘Thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny.’
Books Are My Bag
‘A highly accomplished and beautifully written debut.’
Lancashire Evening Post
‘This book totally blew me away. I love it.'
Cathy Cassidy, bestselling author
‘Lovely, heartwarming, funny read. I laughed out loud, and I may have shed a tear or two.’
Michelle Harrison, author and winner of the 2009 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize
The Sunday Express
‘A beautifully written and heartfelt novel that made me laugh and cry in equal measure.’
Waterstones Booksellers’ Children’s Books of the Year
‘Thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny.’
Books Are My Bag
‘A highly accomplished and beautifully written debut.’
Lancashire Evening Post
‘This book totally blew me away. I love it.'
Cathy Cassidy, bestselling author
‘Lovely, heartwarming, funny read. I laughed out loud, and I may have shed a tear or two.’
Michelle Harrison, author and winner of the 2009 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize
Inspiration for writing A Boy Called Hope
Before I wrote A Boy Called Hope I had written a paranormal YA story and although there was some interest in the story it never quite made it all the way to publication. One day someone said to me ‘why don’t you write about families, you know a lot about them’. I thought, yes, I do. I know more about people than I know about ghosts. A Boy Called Hope was the story I wrote after that conversation and one that I wrote with my heart. My real inspiration for this book is ordinary people. Here’s a little secret I’ve discovered along the way. Ordinary people aren’t ordinary at all – they’re extraordinary. Each person has an extraordinary amount of hope and dreams and that’s where the magic lies. So although I don’t write about magic in an obvious way I really like to think I do because there’s magic in people, just stop and look.The song I listened to writing A Boy Called Hope
Paradise by Coldplay – I loved listening to this song because Dan lived in Paradise and when the night was stormy he too dreamed of his Paradise. Sometimes it moved out of his reach but in the end he found it right where it always was, in his family and home.
Copyright ©2016 Lara Williamson