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The Umbrella Mouse

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The Umbrella Mouse

By: Anna Fargher, Sam Usher
Narrated by: Katherine Press
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About this listen

A timeless tale of courage, resistance and friendship, The Umbrella Mouse is a heart-stopping adventure drawing on the true stories of animals caught in the conflict of WWII, winner of the 2019 Sainsbury's Book Prize for Fiction and selected for Waterstones Book of the Month.

1944, and London is under attack. Young mouse Pip Hanway's safe and quiet world is turned upside down when her home, umbrella shop James Smith & Sons, is destroyed by a bomb. Orphaned and alone, she must begin a perilous quest to find a new home.

But the only way to get there is by joining Noah’s Ark, a secret gang of animals fighting with the resistance in France, operating beneath the feet of the human soldiers. Danger is everywhere and as the enemy closes in, Pip must risk everything to save her new friends.

Anna Fargher's debut novel takes you on an incredible journey through a war that reaches even the smallest of creatures.

'An ambitious and wonderfully well-achieved first novel' Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse.

'A spellbinding tale of bravery and hope, where courage is found in the smallest of heroes' Gill Lewis, author of Sky Hawk.

 Action & Adventure Animals Animals & Nature Historical Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

An ambitious and wonderfully well-achieved first novel. (Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse)
A spellbinding tale of bravery and hope, where courage is found in the smallest of heroes (Gill Lewis, author of Sky Hawk)
An exquisite children's book (Telegraph, 50 best books of 2019)
Move over War Horse . . . [an] enchanting first novel . . . beautifully written
A stunning debut novel . . . Fargher's skill is to invest her hero with the complexity of a human being
Brims with courage, friendship and adventure
[A]n alternative narrative that is both immersive and engaging making this a potential modern day classic that KS2 children and older will truly enjoy
A beautifully imagined wartime adventure with the bravest of heroines. (Claire Fayers, author of The Accidental Pirates)
The wartime background is vivid and completely convincing and Pip and her animal comrades are beguiling characters. Original adventure from an exciting new author
For older readers, the exquisite story of a mouse orphaned in the London blitz. Animals are easily sentimentalised in fiction, but Fargher invests her hero with the complexity of a human being, while minutely observing his rodent tics.
The wartime background is vivid and completely convincing and Pip and her animal comrades are beguiling characters
The best animal adventures since Margery Sharpe's The Rescuers (Amanda Craig, New Statesman)
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