Cover and interior design by Helen Crawford-White

Jess longs to be like normal children, to live a normal life – to have friends who she can play with in the sun. Her medical condition means she can’t though, and her days are spent being home schooled between hospital appointments, all while shielding herself from the harmful rays she’s allergic to.

Fed up of her life behind curtains, she sneaks out one night, and just beyond the playground she longs to visit during the day, she finds a world of her own – a beguiling Ice Garden where she is free to roam without fear of the sun. But she soon discovers, the sun isn’t the only thing to fear…

The Ice Garden is an enthralling debut, full of fear and loneliness balanced with the healing power and hope that friendship brings. Caught between a scorching summer and a fairytalesque winter wonderland, Jess is desperate for some control over her life – a voice beyond the stories she loves writing. Fiery, forthright and determined, her resilience to the life she must live stands in stark contrast to her vulnerability when watching a world she can’t be part of. Magical!

Great for fans of The Secret Of Nightingale Wood and The Island At The End Of Everything.

Huge thanks to Laura Smythe and Chicken House for sending me a copy for review. It didn’t even made it onto my school bookshelf before being pinched by our Year 5 TA (to help with their current topic, allegedly).