Red Sky in the Morning

I sometimes wonder if I would have loved Ben quite so much if Mum hadn't shown me his feet first. She lifted up the edge of the coverlet, and I saw his tiny, perfect, miniature toes, pink as shells, pink as shells.

I hadn't seen anything so beautiful in my whole life.

Anna adores her new baby brother. But when she tells her friends about him, Anna can't quite bring herself to explain that he's different. Ben is profoundly disabled - and he brings a joy to Anna's life that changes it for ever.

Red Sky in the Morning is the only one of my novels that comes straight out of my own life. It's based on the life of my little brother, Alastair, and everything that happened to Ben in the story happened to Alastair. The other characters - Anna, Katy, Anna's school friends and her mum and dad - are all made up, but Ben is as true to Alastair as I could make him.

Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal

Shortlisted for the Children's Book Award

Winner of the Burnley Express Book Award