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Barrington Stoke has signed Katya Balen’s "stunning" third novella, Little House, with "beautiful" illustrations from Richard Johnson.
Publisher Ailsa Bathgate acquired world rights from Catherine Clarke at Felicity Bryan Associates. The novella will be published in March 2024 as part of Barrington Stoke’s super-readable format for readers aged nine and over.
Little House is a "gentle, thought-provoking" story about the relationship between a young girl and her grandfather.
The synopsis reads: "Juno’s furious about being sent to stay with her grandfather for the summer. She’ll miss all the fun she and her friends had planned for the holidays. She’ll also miss her mum, but it’s her mum’s fault for leaving anyway. Then Juno discovers a long forgotten little family of dolls in her grandfather’s attic. As she works to carefully craft a new home for them, can she learn to forgive her mum and understand her reasons for going away?"
Balen commented: "I am so honoured to be writing another book for Barrington Stoke. I love being free to tell small stories that hopefully carry big meaning, and for those stories to be treated with such care. I am also so excited and lucky to have been paired with Richard Johnson again whose work adds a whole new richness and depth to the book."
Bathgate added: "Katya Balen is one of the most talented writers working in the UK today and we are so proud to be publishing a third novella from her in 2024. Little House showcases her tremendous skill in depicting the ways in which children can struggle with the decisions made for them by the adults in their lives and find their own ways to cope. As with all of Katya’s novellas, the story is so much more than the sum of its simple parts."