Conville & Walsh

We’re delighted to announce that Paula Rawsthorne’s first book, The Truth about Celia Frost, has won this year’s Leeds Book Award in their 11-14 category. It’s been an incredible year for the book, which has already been nominated for The Branford Boase Award, The Sefton Super Reads, Southern Schools Book Awards, St.Helens Book Awards, The SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, The Stockport Schools Book Award and the East Midlands Book Award.

Celia is fed up with being the ‘freak’ at school. All her life she’s had to be treated differently: school after school has given assemblies explaining that the slightest cut or graze could cause her to bleed to death. So when she’s cut in a fight, and rushed to hospital, bleeding, she fears the worst. But Celia’s life changes forever that day – when she heals normally. Has her mother been lying to her since birth? Or is her mother protecting her from a kind of chilling horror that Celia can’t even begin to imagine?

Convinced that her mother is mad, she seeks freedom and finds friendship but shocking secrets are uncovered and danger closes in as The Truth About Celia Frost begins to unravel with devastating effects. This gripping, rollercoaster ride of a thriller manages also to be a touching rite of passage about a girl’s relationship with her mother and confronts thought-provoking issues about medical research and the good of the individual versus society. Furthermore, the story works as an insightful mirror for every girl’s adolescence; can you fully grow away from your mother when she knows you better than you know yourself?

If you’d like to know what all the excitement is about, you can buy a copy of the book online or use the London Book Shop Map or Yell to find a bookshop near you.