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The Truth About Celia Frost
- Author: Paula Rawsthorne
- Category: Fiction Debut Young Adult
- Publisher: Usborne (UK)
- Pub date: August 2011
- Length: 352 pages
About The Truth About Celia Frost
riveting… the story races off into a world of unscrupulous doctors, a ruthless private detective who finally finds his inner decency, and Celia’s beautifully evoked, troubled but determined mother
- INDEPENDENT
Nominated for:
The Branford Boase Award
The Leeds Book Award
The Sefton Super Reads
Southern Schools Book Awards
St.Helens Book Awards
The SCBWI Crystal Kite 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?
About the Author
Paula Rawsthorne is one of the winners of the Undiscovered Voices 2010 competition and the 2004 winner of the BBC’s ‘Get Writing’ competition. Her comedy THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT was read by Bill Nighy on BBC Radio 4 and chosen for Pick of the Week. Her unsettling story IN ATTENDENCE was published by Route in an anthology of contemporary fiction called IDEAS ABOVE OUR STATION (reviewed in The Guardian). In 2008 Route also published her short story THE ACCESSORY in an anthology entitled BONNE ROUTE which also received good reviews. She lives in Nottingham with her husband and children.