Annie’s family is made of love. When her moms open up their bookshop in the mornings, there is always a mysterious pile of books on the counter. By evening, every book has found its ideal reader. But one day there is a book that doesn’t get bought. It has to lie there all on its own. Who can its reader be, and why don’t they come? Days pass, and the book with no owner gets lonelier and lonelier. The bookshop is unhappy, and the moms are worried that the shop isn’t making enough money. Then someone starts borrowing the book. Eventually, we realise it’s Annie’s sibling Charlotte — and it is a book about being non-binary. Mum explains what ‘non-binary’ means to Annie. Charlotte asks to be called Charlie and says that their pronouns are they/them. The bookshop cheers up. Customers start buying books again. This family is made of love.
"This brave, kind novel in verse explores gender identity in an original way." -- Sarah Webb - Irish Independent
"There is much for every reader to enjoy in this celebration of the wonders of bookshops and family love." - The Echo
"What a tender jewel of a book ... The Lonely Book was a balm and a blessing." - Deirdre Sullivan, author of Savage Her Reply
"A beautifully immersive, magical and timely tale of family, gender identity - and the importance of a good book! I binged Meg Grehan's The Lonely Book in one sitting, it's the perfect warm and love-filled escape for bookworms of all ages, especially those who've always believed in the magic of bookstores." - Aislinn O'Loughlin, author of Big Bad Me
Author
About Megan Grehan
Meg Grehan is originally from County Louth but now hiding away in County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland, with a very ginger girlfriend, an even more ginger dog and an undisclosed number of cats (none of whom is ginger). Her first book The Space Between won the Eilís Dillon Award at the 2018 Children’s Books Ireland Awards. The Deepest Breath won the Judge’s Special Prize at the 2020 Children’s Books Ireland Awards and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. It is published in the USA by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and in France by Talents Haut. Baby Teeth was a Kirkus Best YA Book of 2022 and was nominated for the 2023 Carnegie Medal.
