Rooftoppers

I enjoyed it tremendously … An ultra stylish writer with a true gift for imaginative storytelling. The next time I go to Paris I will be looking up at the rooftops * Jacqueline Wilson *A rare and remarkable treat, witty and full of original thoughts … This quirky book advocates curiosity, thoughtfulness, freedom and courage * Sunday Times *A writer with an utterly distinctive voice and a wild imagination * Philip Pullman *Whimsical, beautifully written and as carefully balanced as the tightrope Sophie learns to walk, Rooftoppers is a sensitive and emotionally resonant novel with an uplifting message about the power of hope * BookTrust *Rundell is an astonishing young talent and her books combine old-fashioned, edge-of-your-seat adventure with richly imagined characters … Read everything she writes * Daily Mail *Katherine Rundell might be the cleverest children’s writer working today … [Rooftoppers] draws on Rundell’s own experiences of scaling the dreaming spires of Oxford, and does so with whimsicality, wit and a thrilling sense of adventure * Ten classic children’s books to buy for Christmas, Spectator *[a] children’s book that wipes the floor with most adult novels * This week in audio, Guardian *

Katherine Rundell is a bestselling author whose novels for children include Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer and The Good Thieves. She has won the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, amongst many others. She was a 2021 World Book Day author and has also published two picture books for children and three non-fiction books for adults, including Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, winner of the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize, and The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasure, shortlisted for the 2022 Waterstones Book of the Year. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide.

Katherine spent her childhood in Africa and Europe before taking her degree at the University of Oxford and becoming a Fellow of All Souls College. As well as writing, she studies Renaissance literature and occasionally goes climbing on the rooftops late at night.

Marie-Alice Harel is a French illustrator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She teaches illustration at the Edinburgh Drawing School and was the winner of the 2019 Book Illustration Competition.