About the Book

Two very different lives. One shared hope for a brighter future. No time to waste. The flood is coming…

Eleven-year-old Norah Day lives in temporary accommodation, relies on foodbanks for dinner, and doesn’t have a mum. But she’s happy enough, as she has a dad, a pet mouse, a pet spider, and a whole zoo of rescued local wildlife to care for. Eleven-year-old Adam Sinclair lives with his parents in a nice house with a big garden, a private tutor, and everything he could ever want. But his life isn’t perfect – far from it. He’s recovering from leukaemia and is questioning his dream of becoming a champion swimmer. When a nest of baby birds brings them together, Norah and Adam discover they’re not so different after all. Can Norah help Adam find his confidence again? Can Adam help Norah solve the mystery of her missing mother? And can their teamwork save their zoo of rescued animals from the rising flood? Offering powerful lessons in empathy, Norah’s Ark is a hopeful and uplifting middle-grade tale for our times about friendship and finding a sense of home in the face of adversity.

About the Author

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.

Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.

Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.

You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: http://www.strangelymagical.com

What I Thought

This was such a heartfelt and emotional book featuring two loveable young protagonists.

It also touched on a range of tricky topics but handled them with nuance and a light touch. This could have been a very heavy and preachy read but it isn’t.

Topics covered include: Poverty, homelessness, food poverty, foster care, childhood cancer, gambling and addiction, climate change.

This could have easily become an overly saccharine portrayal of a Pollyanna type figure but Norah is not perfect and her flaws and judgments make her a much more interesting character, along with her desire to strive to make good any mistakes she makes. This book makes me look back with some shame in terms of how I maybe treated kids at school from poorer backgrounds and I wish that there had been books like this to teach me better empathy and how to challenge pervasive societal attitudes.

Adam’s story of surviving childhood cancer but struggling to return to normal life is also relatable. My one wish would be that the parental roles in this maybe weren’t as stereotypical – only because I do feel that focusing on an overanxious mum character perpetuates the gaslighting that can occur in medical settings.

Unlike in many books the parents have a hugely important role in this story and that was refreshing to see. The relationships between child and parent were complex and reciprocal. The empathy that both Norah and Adam showed to their parents demonstrates why it is so important to have an open dialogue with children about thoughts and feelings and beliefs because children often hold a lot which can weigh them down.

Using the animals as a shared focus for Norah and Adam’s friendship worked well. Overall this was a quick, enjoyable read with just enough peril to keep me on tenterhooks wondering if everyone – animal and human – would end up with a happy ending.

Thanks to The Write Reads and Neem Tree Press for the gifted ARC for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out what everyone else on the tour thought – spoiler everyone seems to be loving this one.