The Song Walker is an extraordinary new story of friendship, discovery and courage from Zillah Bethell, author of The Shark Caller which won the Wales Book of the Year and the Edward Stanford Children's Travel Book of the Year 2022. "There are three questions that I need to find the answers to: Where am I? What am I doing here? And... Who am I?" When a young girl wakes up in the middle of the desert, she has no idea who she is. She's wearing one shoe, a silky black dress, and she's carrying a strange, heavy case. She meets Tarni, who is on a mysterious quest of her own. Together, the two girls trek across the vast and ever-changing Australian Outback in search of answers. Except both are also hiding secrets...

Dive beneath the waves with this spell-binding adventure of friendship, forgiveness and bravery, set on the shores of Papua New Guinea, perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell and Eva Ibbotson.

"I want to be able to call the sharks. Teach me the magic and show me the ways."

Blue Wing is desperate to become a shark caller, but instead she must befriend infuriating newcomer Maple, who arrives unexpectedly on Blue Wing's island.

At first, the girls are too angry to share their secrets and become friends. But when the tide breathes the promise of treasure, they must journey together to the bottom of the ocean to brave the deadliest shark of them all...

I am how I've always been. My name is Auden Dare. I am eleven years old. Auden Dare has an unusual perspective on life: he cannot see in colour. He's always had this rare condition - and life is beginning to get harder for Auden. The war for water that is raging across the world is getting a little closer all the time. It hardly rains any more, anywhere. Everyone is thirsty all the time, and grubby, and exhausted. Auden has to learn to live without his father, who is away fighting, and has had to move to a new town with his mother, and start a new school, where everyone thinks he's a weirdo. But when he meets Vivi Rookmini, a smiling girl bright with cleverness, his hopes begin to lift. It soon becomes clear to Auden, though, that there are some strange things afoot in his new hometown. He and his mother have moved into the old cottage of his recently-dead uncle Jonah Bloom - a scientist and professor at the university. The place is in disarray - and although Auden's mother tells him it's because Jonah was a messy old thing, Auden knows differently. Someone else did this - someone who was looking for something of Jonah's. Auden had heard too that Jonah was working on something that could cure Auden's condition - could this be it? Then Auden and Vivi make an extraordinary discovery. Hidden away under the shed at the bottom of Jonah's garden is an engimatic and ingenious robot, who calls himself Paragon. A talking, walking, human-like robot. Apparently built by Jonah - but why? The answer to this will take Auden and Vivi on a thrilling journey of discovery as they seek to find out just what exactly Paragon is - and what link he has to Auden - and find that the truth is bigger and more wonderful than either of them could have imagined.

Zillah Bethell brings events to life in an rollercoaster, almost charicature-like style, rather than a realistic reconstruction of history and hardship, although the details of the setting are keenly researched and acutely dramatised. Her protagonist is Eveline, a young woman longing for action, trapped searching for food for her young brother and alcoholic, maudlin father. Eveline is engaged to the romantic, letter-writing Laurie, but is increasingly drawn to his friend, the fiery Alphonse, who is involved in intrigues to break the siege. In a beautifully depicted subplot, the nun Bernadine struggles to look after a baby, delivered dramatically and unexpectedly by her friend and fellow nun in the Paris convent, Sister Agnes. Bernadine's own troubled past haunts her as she bids to save the baby from the horrors of Paris life and makes her own bid for escape as Eveline 'mans' the barricades. Bizarre historical detail such as the theft of the army's horses and the citizens' use of men in hot air balloons to send for help, serve to intrigue and authenticate the story. Bethell's vibrant prose and talent for dramatic imagination make this an evocative and highly enjoyable read.