Kirjahaku

Award-winning author Luke Palmer masterfully captures the intricate dynamics of teenage friendship in this compelling tale of misadventure, resentment and reconciliation. Biggest goes first – always. That’s one of the unspoken rules of Kiln, the forbidden wasteland where Sam and his mates hang out. So when Sam comes up with a plan to go sledging on the rust-ridden bonnet of a rotting car, he goes first. To show the others how it’s done. His mates aren’t so keen. But there’s no complaining. No backing down. Those are the other rules of Kiln. Even when they lead to disaster. Will their friendship survive the wreckage that follows, or is it time for the rules to be changed? Particularly suitable for readers aged 11+ with a reading age of 8.

A white supremacist group and its violent leader targets teenage Josh, who is struggling to cope with his father's recent death at the hands of terrorists. Will he find the strength to resist, or will his unlikely relationship with Dana give them both the escape that they so badly need? An unflinching and muscular exploration of grief, and what we plant in the spaces that loss leaves inside us, Grow is a tense and compelling novel of our current social landscape.

Four boys grow up together at school, itching to get out of their small town. They play games, scoring points from each other, anything to pass the time until they're free. Matthew slips into his imagination, Luc pushes his body to the limit, and Johnny ... well who knows what Johnny's up to. But when Mark starts running errands for his older brother's mysterious associate, he thinks he's found the best game of all.

Year Twelve pupil George is passionate about his band and his music, even if the three other band members are a little more laid back about it. They play for all their friends' parties, and just might, he hopes, hit the big time. But they have surprise competition from new girl Beth and shy fellow-pupil Tadhg. Then disaster strikes. Dealing with loss and grief the whole year group must work out how to rebuild their futures and who their true friends are. Comes complete with song lyrics and accompanying playlist!

In the sequence of poems that forms the spine of this debut collection, Luke Palmer casts 16th Century alchemist Paracelsus as an eccentric single father, giving voice to his Homunculus; a preformationist child and the secret to eternal life. By turns playful and profane, the arcane bleeds into the everyday, untethered from history - a walk in the woods is an encounter with an angry god, a potty training accident becomes a metaphysical exploration. Elsewhere, Palmer addresses masculinities from both sides of the 'father tug', roving between the concrete and ephemeral, asking questions of language, the wants of an aging body, and what it means to live forever.