Norah’s Ark by Victoria Williamson – A Review by Bryony – BLOG TOUR

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

Rating: 4 stars

Release date: 29/08/2023

Publisher: Neem Tree Press

CW: Addiction, animal abandonment, bullying, cancer, flooding, gambling, homelessness, medical content, poverty

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Author: Victoria Williamson

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: www.strangelymagical.com

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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.

Norah’s Ark was a really well-handled middle grade novel that discussed difficult topics with care and hope. 

In a lot of ways, it was a very sad book. Norah and her dad live in poverty, without enough money to get through the day. They fell on hard times and didn’t have the support to get back up. The book criticises a government that lets families fall into this position, who are scared to ask for help in case it separates the family because of the government’s version of “help”. Because of their situation, Norah is bullied at school, and the author handles both topics with grace. 

Despite everything she faces, Norah still tries and often manages to find a little hope in her world. She is a human full of love and she channels this into helping animals and others in need. She also gets some hope for herself when she befriends Adam. 

Despite being in what looks like a better position than Norah (money, a nice house, two parents who are there all the time), Adam has faced his own set of challenges. He is stuck between returning to normality and allowing his parents to fight, or continuing to be sick because that’s when everything at home seemed to go smoothly. I loved the friendship he struck up with Norah over a shared love of animals, and how they encouraged each other to be more. 

Although it tackled topics that really tugged at the heart, the overall message of Norah’s Ark was one of hope, inspired by a younger generation. It showed the impact a friendship can have in transforming a life.