One girl’s courage in the face of apparently insuperable odds, Spilled Water is an emotionally charged story which is both shocking and moving. Lu Si-Yan is only 11 when her father dies but it is to be the beginning of the end of the life she knows. Instead of the comfortable life in the country, Lu Si-Yan is dispatched by her uncle to the crowded city where she leads a life of total servitude. Refusing to be crushed, Lu Si-Yan is determined to get away and to return to her beloved mother and brother.
Lovereading comment:
Sally Grindley was inspired to write this story about a girl sold into slavery by an article in a newspaper. It's a heart-wrenching and mesmerising novel set in modern day China that reveals that even now slavery continues in parts of the world. An 11 year old girl is sold into servitude by her mother and uncle and that day everything changed. This powerful and brilliantly evoked setting with believable characters is incredibly thought-provoking and paints a delicate, honest and finely realised portrait of one young girl's breavery.
Winner of the 2004 Gold Smarties Award and a number of other prestigious awards.
When her husband dies, Lu Si-yan's mother is encouraged to sell her young daughter into domestic service. Lu Si-yan is just eleven when sold by her uncle. Nearly two years will pass before she can get back home to her mother and brother.
In this powerful and compelling novel Sally Grindley portrays the life of a young girl in China, a young girl whose life is said to be like 'spilled water'.
'Sally Grindley excels in stories that extend a child's emotional experience' The Scotsman
Author
About Sally Grindley
Sally was our Guest Editor for December 2010. Click here to see her book selections.
Sally began writing in 1984 while she was working for a nationwide children's book club. She has been a full-time author since 1995 and has had over 140 books published. She won the prestigious Smarties Gold Prize in 2005 for her novel ‘Spilled Water’, and 'Shhh' won the Children's Book Award in 1992 and was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. She has also won and been shortlisted for a number of other awards. Sally is lauded for her ability to write across a wide range of subjects and for a wide range of ages – from street kids to giants and from toddlers to pre-teens.
