In the days to come there’ll be talk on the radio about the world becoming an unsafe place, about the good old days being gone. There will be confusion and outrage, suspicion, accusation. There will be a terrible sense of sadness in the knowledge that a child is no longer safe at play. All this will happen in the days to follow. But as the three adults come together in the stale light below the eaves, these are not the things that are said and done. Rory and Beattie look stricken at each other, and Nicole’s father spreads helpless hands. “I need her to come home,” he says. “Her dinner’s ready, you see.”
Where we are, we can hear birds. Where we are, we can see stars. Where we are, a cat’s paw claws the earth. Where we are, we hear choirs sing.
Here, as always, we hold each other’s hands.
Where we are, we feel thunder. Where we are, we hear dogs howl. Here, swallows catch insects. Here, we feel church bells.
Here rain falls on our eyes.
Where we are, weeds grow pale. Dusk seals our lips, wind knots our hair. Where we are, cracks open in the dark.
Worms slap like whips.
Where we are, we have grown thin. There is water in our ears, the mud has made us grey.
Where we are, morning wipes us clean.
We hear Mother speak our names.
We are here; here.
Where we are, winter grass is growing.
Where we are, we feel the sun.
SONYA HARTNETT is an award-winning author of many books for adults, young adults and children, including Thursday’s Child, winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize; What the Birds See, which won the Age Book of the Year in Australia; Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf; The Ghost’s Child and Surrender, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Her books for younger readers include The Silver Donkey, The Midnight Zoo and Sadie and Ratz, illustrated by Ann James. In 2008, Sonya was awarded the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for her body of work. She lives in Australia.
PRAISE FOR WHAT THE BIRDS SEE
“In its evocation of the adult world seen through the eyes of a child, this book has the feel of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird… A deep, and deeply moving, novel.”
The Guardian
“The writing is spare, the images crystalline… Nothing is extraneous.” The Guardian
“‒It explores with sensitivity and acute psychological insight the private ordeals of a lonely nine-year-old‒ The result is a moving novel of childhood.”
Books for Keeps, five-star review
“Rarely is a sentence turned so well, a setting so remarkably established, and a plot so evenly polished as in this book.”
School Library Journal
PRAISE FOR SONYA HARTNETT
“Hartnett exemplifies a quality and complexity of contemporary children’s books. She is superb.”
The Guardian
“What an original and intriguing writer Sonya Hartnett is.”
The Observer
“Hartnett’s books, even when they are published on children’s lists, have the literary quality to appeal to discriminating readers of any age.” Nicolette Jones,
The Sunday Times
“Sonya depicts the circumstances of young people without avoiding the darker sides of life. She does so with linguistic virtuosity and a brilliant narrative technique; her works are a source of strength.”
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2008 Jury
Also by Sonya Hartnett
Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf, Surrender, Thursday’s Child, The Ghost’s Child
For younger readers
The Silver Donkey, The Midnight Zoo, Sadie and Ratz
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
Published by arrangement with Penguin Books Australia Ltd
First published in Great Britain 2003 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
This edition published 2018
Text © 2002 Sonya Hartnett
Cover illustration © 2018 Jeffrey Alan Love
The right of Sonya Hartnett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-7519-0 (ePub)
www.walker.co.uk
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