The publishing team at Chicken House, lead by Barry Cunningham, keep finding amazing books. This one, by Lucy Christopher, is quite stunning. Isla is the narrator, it’s all in the present tense, which in the wrong hands can become annoying, but in these hands gives an immediacy which adds to the atmosphere. Isla has a lovely relationship with her father, who has a very uneasy one with his father, and all of them share an interest in, and love of, birds, particularly swans, and especially whooper swans. While her father is in hospital after a heart attack, Isla finds a young swan on a pond below the hospital, and also meets Harry, a boy who has cancer and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant. The fragility of life, the beauty of flight, the necessity of risk and the difficulty of growing up and learning to fly are all part of the story. This book is another classic example of the power of the “show don’t tell” adage, as information about the family personalities and histories unfolds gently and naturally. It is a beautifully crafted novel that is almost musical in its structure, with themes and motifs stepping forward and back while the story continues. Beautiful characters, beautiful writing, deeply emotionally satisfying themes and story; I’m struggling to recommend this book highly enough and I’ve barely scratched the surface in this review. For good readers of  eleven or twelve up, but probably mainly secondary age. As I’ve said many times before, many adults would also enjoy.