The Wordsmith
by Patricia Forde
Description
A beautiful and gripping dystopian story of how words make us who we are. For readers aged ten and over.
On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted from apprentice to wordsmith, charged with collecting and archiving words in post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval Ark.
When she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob the people of Ark of the power of speech, she realises that she has to save not only words but the culture itself.
After global warming came The Melting. Then came Ark.
John Noa, the dictator of Ark, wants to destroy language, music and art. People are only allowed use a list of 500 words. ‘Hope’, ‘love’ and ‘freedom’ are among the forbidden words.
Letta loves her job as the Wordsmith's apprentice, giving out special words to people who need them. But when her master disappears, Letta realises she needs to join the resistance, to stop Noa silencing what is left of the human race.
In The Wordsmith, Letta joins the Desecrators, rebels who live outside the walls of Ark and fight the regime with the best methods they have: music, art, speech and hope. Together they manage to defeat Noa.
See details of the sequel Mother Tongue here.
More Information
Rights Information
World rights available.
Rights sold: ANZ, Danish, Dutch, Lithuanian, North American, Russian, Turkish
Sharp Rights represents Little Island in the following markets: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Chinese (Complex & Simplified), Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands/Belgium, North America, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam.
Marketing Information
Winner: White Raven Award 2015
A Library Association of America Notable Book for Children (published in the USA as The List)
Shortlisted: Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year 2016
Reviews
‘The fantasy book of the year!’ - Eoin Colfer
‘Targets the danger of global warming and the power of communication, love and expression.’ - The Guardian
‘An electric sci-fi novel with a strong ecological and moral stance.’ - Books for Keeps
‘Truly stands apart for its originality and relevance.’ - The Irish Times
‘A gripping post-apocalyptic thriller.’ - School Library Journal
“Stands out for its imaginative approach and beautiful and careful use of language.” - The Literary Review
Author Biography
Patricia Forde lives in Galway, in the west of Ireland. She has published nine books for children, and written two plays, as well as several television drama series for children and teenagers. She has worked as a writer on both English and Irish language soap operas. In another life, she was a primary school teacher and the artistic director of Galway Arts Festival.
Sharp Rights Publishing Consultancy
Founded under lockdown in 2020, Sharp Rights publishing consultancy handles rights for independent publishers, agencies and authors, including The bks Agency, HopeRoad Publishing, Fledgling Press, FROM YOU TO ME, Little Island and Fine Feather Press. Founder Andrew Sharp is the former group rights director at Hachette Children's Group in London. He was The Bookseller Rights Professional of the Year in 2019. Our main focus is selling translation and English language rights for children's books. We also handle general trade titles. We are seeking publisher clients who require representation. We are interested to hear from publishers of adult fiction and non-fiction, children's non-fiction and picture books. We are particularly keen to hear from publishers whose lists focus on under-represented communities.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher Little Island
- Publication Date September 2015
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781912417124
- Publication Country or regionIreland
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 10 EUR
- Pages286
- ReadershipChildren
- Publish StatusPublished
- Copyright Year2015
- Page sizeB Format
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