A Song for Ella Grey: NHB Modern Plays

Infused with lyricism and with the fire and oddness of adolescence. Fresh, involving and lucid, it is a song in itself, and teens will find it fills them with poignant longing and joy.
A desperately romantic and deeply lyrical re-imagining of Orpheus and Eurydice... David Almond at his best. * * * * *
Passages of magic.
Beautifully written... poetic and allusive.
Spell-binding... impossible to resist... breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond's] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now.
Lyrical and dreamlike, this beautifully written story conjures up the insane intensity of first love and the effect it has on those caught up in its slipstream. Authentic teenage characters and attitudes, and Almond's control of emotion is superb.
Almond's writing is superb.
A ravishing, ingenious novel told in Almond's own hypnotic northern lilt.
A retelling of the myth of Orpheus... Almond's version is a revelation: his poetic prose seeps into your blood like word-venom until you can't imagine reading anything else (Children's Book of the Week)
a strong sense of mystery...lyrical... poetic...moves in a deliberate dreamlike way. A beautiful book that works on several levels A triumph. (Marcus Sedgwick)
A plangent tale of adolescent passion which re-packages the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Almond injects it with lyrical beauty and life.
Intriguing adaptation of the tale of Orpheus, skilfully crafted and blended with modern teen life and a real flavour of Northumberland. Haunting.
Almond is an incredibly powerful storyteller. Poetic... dreamlike and lyrical. A devastatingly poignant novel.
A desperately romantic and deeply lyrical re-imagining of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Full of the hums and thrums of emotions, landscape, music and poetry, it's David Almond at his best.
Bliddy marvellous, as his Geordie protagonists would say.
A masterly retelling of the Orpheus myth. Lyrical prose is matched with equally beautiful passages.
Extraordinary.
Beautiful writing.
Almond's lyrical prose fits the story perfectly.
A revelation. Poetic prose seeps into your blood like word venom until you can't imagine reading anything else.
Beautiful and bewitching.
The writing is just so magical... A stunning book which I will definitely read again.
David Almond is a dazzling writer...exceptional... a breathtaking novel from a literary master.
A daring reworking of Orpheus amd Eurydice... a sense of transcendence... lush poetic prose.
Haunting poetic novel.
If somebody asked me to describe A Song for Ella Grey in word, I would have to tell them that I couldn't...it would be impossible to write it off in just a word
Beautiful writing...this is an author always on the side of the young, and as such offers a valuable counterweight to fashionable gloom in other teenage writing
I thought the author told the story extremely well and I would recommend this book to anyone in their teens.
Skillfully crafted and blended...accessible with engaging main characters and haunting memorable plot.
Intensely lyrical and oddly haunting...Almond's prose is a delight, each word so carefully chosen and melded to make a myth of contemporary adolescence
Capturing the intensity of first love and its power to overcome even death, Almond's prose is a delight, each word so carefully chosen and melded to make a myth of comtemporary adolescence...will surprise and enthrall teenage readers in equal measure
David Almond is a powerful storyteller and I was completely swept away by his latest poetic prose
A challenging but riveting read
It is a challenging but riveting read
Almond's poetic prose is especially apt for this tale -- one that moves in a deliberate, dreamlike way
This is the most beautifully written, haunting book for young adults that I have ever read
This year I loved A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond ... a powerful, lyrical book that's absorbing and moving and haunting
[David Almond] is becoming the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of Children's Fiction.
This is absolutely beautiful and quite possibly my favourite Almond novel to date. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is retold against a wild Northumbrian landscape: life, death, love and myths. Just wonderful.
Almond is an incredibly powerful storyteller; his poetic prose perfectly suits this type of tale, being dream-like and lyrical...a devastatingly poignant novel.