make a moving and thoughtful story told with exceptional elegance.' - Julia Eccleshare 'exquisite prose which sparkles off the page' - Writeaway BACKLIST REVIEWS: 'a book of startling quality and tremendous beauty' - The Bookbag 'David Almond's novels all have a unique, mystical thread running through them. He is simply incapable of writing a bad sentence.' - Michael Morpurgo 'Another brilliant novel from a master storyteller.' - Carousel Unsettling but, as ever, beautifully written. 'a master novelist' - Independent 'There really is nobody quite like Almond writing in children's or adults' fiction today.' - The Times 'a writer of subtle, page-turning and daring exactness.' - Times Educational Supplement 'Almond manages to make a work of art out of the simplest words.' - Amanda Craig, The Times 'David Almond is a fine writer, one of the very finest we have. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. My Name is Mina has been longlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2011. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award. In this stunning book, David Almond revisits Mina before she has met Michael, before she has met Skellig, in what is a thought-provoking and extraordinary prequel to his best-selling debut novel, Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line? And so Mina writes and writes in her notebook, and through her stories, thoughts, lessons and dreams, Mina's journal and mind grow into something extraordinary. I'll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or a beast does, just like life does. Then what shall I write? I can't just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I open the book and write the very first words: My name is Mina and I love the night. I keep on saying that I'll write a journal. There's an empty notebook lying on the table in the moonlight.

My name is mina