Review by Frances Colville
An Almond for a Parrot is a hard book to categorise – think historical fiction set in 18th century London combined with ghosts and magical illusions, all with undertones of Fifty Shades of Grey. The central character Tully Truegood finds herself in Newgate prison awaiting trial for murder and expecting to be hanged once her baby is born. The book is written in the form of a letter to her one true love telling the story of her life from unwanted child to celebrity courtesan, up to the point of the crime.
An Almond for a Parrot is the adult fiction debut of Wray Delaney, the alter ego of bestselling children’s author Sally Gardner. Writing as Sally Gardner she has sold more than 2 million books in the UK and been translated into more than 22 languages as well as winning the Costa Children’s Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal and other awards for her books.
The characterisation is superb, the settings well-described and the storyline fast paced and intriguing. A bit more period detail wouldn’t come amiss but there is enough to make it feasible that this story is set four hundred years ago.
Something a bit different and worth getting hold of a copy when it is published by
HQ – Harper Collins in hardback (£12.99), ebook (£8.99) and audio editions (£11.99)