Shortlisted for the 2011 Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation. Shortlisted for the prestigious Sheffield Children's Book Award 2011.
Deeply moving, this is the touching story of two teenagers from very different backgrounds whose friendship raises huge questions about what concepts of home and family really mean. Lou is bright and successful at school but her home is unhappy and she has always been an outsider. Maybe that’s why she decides to do a project on the homeless and so meets No. Gradually the two girls find out more about each other and their lives begin to touch. The unexpected results are delicately and intelligently explored.
The Marsh Award shortlisted books are:
The Pasta Detectives by Andreas Steinhofel, translated from German by Chantal Wright
Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend called Lucas who gets her through the school day. At home her father cries in secret in the bathroom and her mother hasn't been out of the house properly for years. But Lou is about to change her life - and that of her parents - for good, all because of a school project she decides to do about the homeless. Through the project Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou cannot bear that No is still on the streets when she goes back home - even if it is to a home that is saddened and desolate. So she asks her parents if No can come to live with them. To her astonishment, her parents - eventually - agree. No's presence forces Lou and her parents to finally face the sadness that has enveloped them. But No has disruptive as well as positive effects. Can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together? A tense, brilliant novel tackling the true meaning of home and homelessness.
Delphine de Vigan is the author of several novels, including Jolis Garcons, Soir de decembre and Les heures souterraines. No and Me is her first novel to be published in English; it was a bestseller in France, where it was awarded the Prix des Libraires (The Booksellers' Prize) in 2008, and also a bestseller in Italy.
George Miller is a regular translator for Le Monde diplomatique's English-language edition. He is also the translator of Conversations with my Gardener by Henri Cueco and Inside Al-Qaeda by Mohammed Sifaoui.
