| Romance |
| Young Adult Literature |
| Young Adult Fiction |
Summary
Summary
Written in lyrical prose, this novel for fans of epic romances and mythology retellings explores themes of love, loss, fate, and destiny set against the dramatic and diverse backdrop of Northern England.
David Almond, recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, a Printz Honor for Skellig, and the Printz Award for Kit's Wilderness, has crafted an enchanting modern take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Claire and Ella and their friends are bound by ties so strong they seem unbreakable. Then the strange and handsome Orpheus strolls onto the beach, and he sings them all into an astonishing new understanding of themselves. Ella is caught the hardest, fastest, deepest--and Claire is left with the pain of looking on.
Raw, emotional, lyrical, funny, and true, A Song for Ella Grey is a tale of the joys, troubles, and desires of modern teens. It takes place in the ordinary streets of Tyneside and on the beautiful beaches of Northumberland. It's a story of first love, a love song that draws on ancient mythical forces. A love that leads Ella, Orpheus, and Claire to the gates of Death and beyond.
Winner of The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
A PW Best Book of 2015
"Almond's lyrical narrative will sweep readers on a journey to unearthly, mysterious realms and back."-- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Innovative and dreamlike . . . and told in Almond's lyrical, distinctive prose. Teen readers of a literary bent and mythology enthusiasts will love this latest work."-- School Library Journal , Starred Review
"Almond brings his hypnotic lyricism to this darkly romantic tale that sings of the madness of youth, the ache of love, and the near-impossibility of grasping death."-- Kirkus Reviews
Author Notes
David Almond was born on May 15, 1951 in the United Kingdom. He writes novels for children and young adults including The Savage, Slog's Dad, My Name Is Mina, The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas, and The Tightrope Walkers. He has received numerous awards including the Carnegie Medal for Skellig, two Whitbread Awards, the Michael L. Printz Award for young-adult books for Kit's Wilderness, the Smarties Prize and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for The Fire-Eaters, the 2015 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for A Song for Ella Grey, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Almond (The Tightrope Walkers) gracefully interfuses ancient archetypes with contemporary situations in this retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Set in northern England-a landscape familiar to Almond's fans-the novel is told from the point of view of Claire, a restless high school student, whose dreams and imagination reach beyond the confines of her cold, dreary surroundings. "I wanted to experience that thing of being just me, moving on my own across the earth," she laments. During a much-anticipated trip to the beach with some close friends, Claire is enchanted by Orpheus, a wandering musician whose beauty and skills with the lyre seem otherworldly. When Claire's best friend Ella instantly falls in love with this stranger, Claire has misgivings; after it becomes apparent that Orpheus is just as smitten with Ella, Claire agrees to help them secretly elope, not knowing the height of wonder and depth of despair that will follow. Like Orpheus's music, Almond's lyrical narrative will sweep readers on a journey to unearthly, mysterious realms and back. Mythological characters come to life while remaining enigmatic enough to set imaginations spinning. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A celebration of the wonderful madness of youth, and of the bemusing, soul-confusing power of aesthetic experience, lies at the heart of Almonds lyrical, contemporary-set take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Set on the northeast coast of Britain, Almonds story echoes that of the myth: teen Ella falls in love with Orpheus; theyre wed; Ella dies; and Orpheus retrieves her from death only to lose her at the last minute. Almonds narrator, Ellas best friend Claire, takes up her pen to bring her friend into the world for one last night then let her go forever, recalling the spiky conversations, parental disagreements, and school assignments that are part of her life and Ellas. But she strives most to convey the experience of hearing Orpheuss music, the inchoate yearnings and ecstasy it evokes in herself and her friends: It was like being blessed, she writes. Like truly becoming ourselves. Like being loved. Almonds prose has always been intense, sensual, and vivid: here his very subject matter is intensity of feeling with a capital F. Cumulatively, from one page to the next, physical, emotional, and aesthetic bliss becomes ever more potent: a foundation for adult awareness, for the joy that lies in art, nature, and love. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ella and Claire share a bond that seems unbreakable until a mysterious musician materializes in their midst. Narrator Claire and her friends grasp their glorious youth with both hands, relishing nights on the beach, spontaneous song, and the wonder of being alive in the universe. In the middle of one such reverie, while Ella is at home, they meet ragtag musician Orpheus. Claire holds up her phone and urges her friend to listen, and after a few notes, Ella is hooked. Orpheus, too, is hooked on Ella, and their intoxicating, all-consuming passion draws Ella away from Claire. Powerless, Claire stands by, witnessing her friend's meteoric romance, her untimely death, and Orpheus' devastating failure to retrieve Ella from Hades. Almond suffuses this retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice with Northern England slang and lush, musical language, which captures the heady rush of reckless youth. Though the beautiful prose occasionally overpowers the characters, that murkiness contributes to the mythic otherworldliness of the story. Patient readers will likely be transfixed by this rhapsodic modern retelling of a classic tragedy.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2015 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-An innovative and dreamlike retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in modern-day Tyneside and Northumberland and told in Almond's lyrical, distinctive prose. Narrator Claire has a passionate relationship with Ella, whom she has known since they were five years old. They are part of a "beautiful friendship group" of like-minded teenagers who gather to share their dreams and artistic efforts. When the mysterious musician Orpheus appears on the beach, the teens, as well as all the local wildlife, are enchanted by his weird and lovely music, but the one most enamored of Orpheus and his music is Ella, who hears him over Claire's cell phone. Ella and Orpheus fall in love and marry, but Ella dies of a snakebite on their wedding day. The novel follows the original myth fairly closely as Orpheus goes through river gates into an underworld where he encounters monsters and the rulers of the underworld. This is an impressive update of this often retold story, with artsy teenage characters and a lovingly detailed Northumbrian setting. Some parts, such as Orpheus's death at the hands of crazed women emerging from the sea and references to his male lovers, will resonate more strongly with readers familiar with the original myth. VERDICT Teen readers of a literary bent and mythology enthusiasts will love this latest work from Almond.-Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
The legend of Orpheus voyaging to the underworld to bring his wife, Eurydice, back from death is one of the most frequently retold and reworked stories we have. From the beginnings of opera with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo to Stravinsky's ballet to Jean Cocteau's 1950 film trilogy, the Orpheus tale has been kept alive by countless artists long after the classical Greek poets first told it. Is there any need, therefore, for David Almond to take the story one further iteration forward and rewrite it with teenagers in today's Tyneside? This is what we're given in A Song for Ella Grey. Claire, the narrator, and Ella have been best friends since they were very young. Now, approaching the end of their school lives, they find themselves as close as ever, yet are kept apart by Ella's overprotective adoptive parents, when they refuse to allow her to join Claire and other friends on a wild Easter camping trip. Almond lightly depicts a beautiful set of friendships between these young adults, as they sing and dance, eat and drink, love and play on the wind- and rainswept coast, and he attempts to turn the dunes of Bamburgh beach into Greece. It is here that Claire and the others first meet Orpheus; a mystical young man, a wanderer carrying a lyre of sorts, he charms (seduces?) them all with his music and song. Claire cannot bear that her best friend is missing this enchantment - she holds her phone out to Orpheus so Ella can hear him down the line. From that point, both Ella and Orpheus know they are in love, that they have always loved each other, and very soon they are together. As half term approaches, the young couple determine to get "married" on a return trip to the beach, where poisonous adders lurk in the dunes. Without giving away the story, if you know your classics, you will know what happens from this point on. And what if you don't know Virgil and Ovid? Can you still read and enjoy A Song for Ella Grey? Of course you can; Almond is too great a storyteller to allow his audience any discomfort. Still, there is a strong sense of mystery here, for this is a lyrical book (Almond's poetic prose is especially apt for this tale of Orpheus), one that moves in a deliberate, dreamlike way. Episodes such as Orpheus's final encounter with women on the beach, and the fact that he is rumoured to have become gay, make more sense if you are familiar with the old stories, but without that familiarity this is still a beautiful book that works on several levels. So was it sensible for Almond to tell us this story again? Absolutely. The true test of a retelling is that the story must rise out of its origins to become something worthwhile in its own right. Furthermore, Orpheus's venture into the underworld is itself, like the even older story of Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth, a version of what I believe to have been the very first story told round the fire: of Man entering the Dark Cave. The hunter enters the cave to rid it of a wolf, bear, or lion; the hero ventures to the darkest space to face whatever lies in wait, be it triumph or tragedy. Happily for Almond, and for us, A Song for Ella Grey is a triumph. Marcus Sedgwick's new novel is The Ghosts of Heaven (Indigo). 276pp, Hodder, pounds 12.99 - Marcus Sedgwick This is what we're given in A Song for Ella Grey. Claire, the narrator, and Ella have been best friends since they were very young. Now, approaching the end of their school lives, they find themselves as close as ever, yet are kept apart by Ella's overprotective adoptive parents, when they refuse to allow her to join Claire and other friends on a wild Easter camping trip. [David Almond] lightly depicts a beautiful set of friendships between these young adults, as they sing and dance, eat and drink, love and play on the wind- and rainswept coast, and he attempts to turn the dunes of Bamburgh beach into Greece. It is here that Claire and the others first meet Orpheus; a mystical young man, a wanderer carrying a lyre of sorts, he charms (seduces?) them all with his music and song. Claire cannot bear that her best friend is missing this enchantment - she holds her phone out to Orpheus so Ella can hear him down the line. From that point, both Ella and Orpheus know they are in love, that they have always loved each other, and very soon they are together. - Marcus Sedgwick.
Kirkus Review
Award-winning British novelist Almond (Kit's Wilderness, 1999; The Fire-Eaters, 2004, etc.) mines the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in this modern-day love story, told in the voice of Claire Wilkinson, a 17-year-old poet. Claire loves her childhood friend Ella Grey, and they are "young and bright and free" with their kisses and sleepovers until"Ha!" Everything changes one spring day when Claire encounters Orpheus, a wild, black-haired, lyre-playing wanderer in a purple coat and Doc Martens, on Northumberland's Bamburgh Beach. Claire calls Ella on her cellphone from the boozy bacchanalian beach party so her friend can hear the mesmerizing songs that Orpheus plays, enchanting the dolphins, the sea, even the pebbles and sandand soon wishes she hadn't. When Orpheus sings for Ella Grey, she falls madly in love with him, sight unseen. "Go to Hell, Orpheus," Claire whispers. The rest of the tale mirrors the myth: Ella and Orpheus marry, Ella dies by snakebite, and Orpheus enters the beastly Underworld to rescue her from Death, a section of the book effectively distinguished by black paper with white type. Almond brings his hypnotic lyricism to this darkly romantic tale that sings of the madness of youth, the ache of love, and the near-impossibility of grasping death. (Fiction. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
