New Kids On The Block is a year-long series on Pop! Goes The Reader meant to welcome and celebrate new voices and debut authors in the literary community.
Are you a debut author whose book is being published in 2018? It’s not too late to sign-up! If you want to participate in New Kids On The Block this year, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! You can send a tweet or DM on Twitter to @Pop_Reader or email me at Jen@PopGoesTheReader.com. I would love to collaborate with you!
About Hayley Chewins
Hayley Chewins grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, in a house so full of books that she learnt to read by accident. Hayley studied classical voice for a year before switching to a degree in English Literature and Italian and holds an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University. She lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a house full of art and music and colour, with her husband and a very small poodle. She believes in two things above all else: the magic of love, and the heroism of sisters. Her debut novel, The Turnaway Girls, will release from Candlewick and Walker Books in October 2018.
I was born singing.
I used to wake up singing. I used to sing myself to sleep.
And then, somewhere along the line, I stopped.
I became embarrassed.
Ashamed.
Scared.
I kept singing in secret, but it became more and more difficult to share my voice with others.
And then I wrote a book about a girl who sings in secret. A girl who is afraid to sing. A girl who sings anyway. And as I was working on the manuscript, little flights of melody began to whisper within me. I started singing them — in the shower, while I was packing the dishwasher. I started putting words to them. Soon, they became fully fledged songs.
This is one of those songs.
If there’s one thing you take away from Delphernia’s story, I hope it is this: your voice really can change the world — one breathed note, or typed word, at a time.
Most of all, it can change you — from the inside out. I hope you listen when it does.
The song is called Sing To The Sea: A Lullaby and Hayley wrote the melody and lyrics. The music is by Clare Vandeleur, who is an incredible South African composer.
Title The Turnaway Girls
Author Hayley Chewins
Pages 272 Pages
Intended Target Audience Upper Middle Grade
Genre Fantasy
To Be Published October 9th 2018 by Candlewick Press (US) and Walker Books (UK)
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository
Twelve-year-old Delphernia Undersea has spent her whole life in the cloister, hidden from sea and sky by a dome of stone and the laws of Blightsend. Outside, the Masters — all boys and men — play music. Inside, the turnaway girls silently, silently make that music into gold. Making shimmer, Mother Nine calls it.
But Delphernia can’t make shimmer.
She would rather sing than stay silent.
When a Master who doesn’t act like a Master comes to the skydoor, it’s a chance for Delphernia to leave the cloister. Outside the stone dome, the sea breathes like a wild beast, the sky blinks with stars like eyes, and even the gardens have claws. Outside, Delphernia is caught between the island’s silent Custodian and its ominous Childer-Queen. Outside, there is a poem-speaking prince and a girl who makes Delphernia think of freedom.
Delphernia doesn’t know how to be free in Blightsend. Blightsend can’t be free without her.
One Response
Hayley, Wow, the song…and the book, but the song!Beautiful!