No Ballet Shoes in Syria

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Now it’s time to weave in object number two. Don’t forget to describe it – make it come alive for the reader. How does this object come into the tale? The role of object number two is to help introduce a complication to your story? An obstacle that might prevent your character from achieving what they want. Over to you ….

A breath-taking, epic adventure, spanning the icy wastes of the Arctic Tundra to the vaudeville circus of New York, from the award-winning author of No Ballet Shoes in Syria and Another Twist in the Tale .

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A brilliantly-conceived and hugely imaginative ‘sequel’ to Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Following Frankenstein is a hugely exciting and beautifully-written historical adventure, perfect for 9-12 year olds. Aya selects objects that tell the story of her past: of her life in Syria before and during the war, of her flight to Turkey, in a container, of the refugee camps, the journey across the sea in a storm, the last time she saw her father … With beautiful, captivating writing, wonderfully authentic ballet detail, and an important message championing the rights of refugees, this is classic storytelling – filled with warmth, hope and humanity. Two things that make us human are art and sport, and ballet is where those two things converge. When I was writing Watch Her Fall, a thriller about two rival ballerinas, I began with the basics: textbooks to learn the technical stuff; the big biographies. I was greedy for the ballerina’s routine, the rhythm of her day, the shape of her childhood.

Aya is new to England - she's only been in Manchester for 3 weeks with her Mumma and her little brother, Moosa. She's come because her homeland, Syria, is currently torn apart by war and it's not safe for her family to live there anymore. Misty Copeland performs in Swan Lake for the American Ballet Theatre in 2014. Photograph: Darren Thomas/AP This was the other book that was in my mind as I conceived the idea for No Ballet Shoes in Syria. This classic tale of children journeying through war-torn Europe towards Switzerland where they believe they will be reunited with their parents had a profound effect on me as a young reader, offering a remarkable insight into the reality of Europe laid waste by war. It’s not a story that shies away from difficult truths, but it is irradiated by hope, by small acts of kindness – something which I really tried to capture in No Ballet Shoes in Syria too.

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When I was eleven I adored Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes and Pamela Brown’s The Swish of the Curtain, and was so fixated on Lorna Hill’s Sadler’s Wells ballet books – each of which I had read at least ten times – that eventually my mum decided enough was enough. She prised my tattered copy of Veronica at the Wells out of my hands and gave me a pile of new reading material, which included The Silver Sword, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, and The Diary of Anne Frank. That was when I discovered that there was a new kind of book to love – stories that could open your eyes, change the way you saw the world, make you ask questions, expand your horizons, enrich your soul – switch on lightbulbs in your head! A ballet shoe reminds her of her dance school in Syria, of her friends and her beloved dance teacher –of the life she once knew before the war

I feel privileged to have read this beautiful book -one that is destined to become a classic, like the books that inspired it, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and the Sadler's Wells series. The winners of The Farshore Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2023, highlighting the work schools are doing to encourage a love of reading, have... I write fiction for children and young adults, including ‘No Ballet Shoes in Syria’(Winner of the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Award 2020, The Sheffield Book Award and The Middle East Book Award) , Carnegie nominated ‘We Can Be Heroes’ (now a family feature, starring Alison Steadman and Phil Davies) ‘Another Twist in the Tale’(Winner of the North Somerset Book Award) and the forthcoming ‘Following Frankenstein’. Under my pen name Cate Shearwater, I also write the much loved ‘Somersaults and Dreams’series.My forthcoming Rom-Com ‘ Confessions of a Helicopter Mummy’ has been described as ‘The most sparkling romantic comedy of the year’ and ‘Bridget Jones meets the Bad Moms via ‘Sex in the City’ for the Tik Tok Generation!’ In No Ballet Shoes in Syria I tell the story of 11 year old Aya who has just arrived in Britain with her mum and baby brother, seeking asylum from war in Syria. When Aya stumbles across a local ballet class, the formidable dance teacher Miss Helena spots her exceptional talent and believes Aya has the potential to earn a prestigious ballet scholarship. But at the same time Aya and her family must fight to remain in the country, to make a home for themselves and to find Aya’s father – separated from the rest of the family during the perilous journey from Syria. Maggie Walton’s father has dedicated his life to a single pursuit: hunting down the monster created by Victor Frankenstein. It has cost Maggie and her family everything – and now her father is staking everything on one last voyage to the Arctic, with Maggie secretly in tow, where he hopes to find the monster at last. The story it follows is very current. The Syrian refugee crisis is happening RIGHT NOW. But also, this book takes the opportunity to delve into the not-so-distant past to find other examples of refugees - things which the reader may or may not already be familiar with. I feel thoroughly educated after reading this book. I had never realised quite what went on - what is STILL going on - in Syria.