Asha & the Spirit Bird

Winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2019Winner
of the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2017
Shortlisted
for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020
Longlisted
for the Jhalak Prize 2019
Chosen as one of the Guardian’s
Best Books of 2019

‘This book is such a light-filled, huge-hearted delight of an
adventure.’ KATHERINE RUNDELL

‘An evocative debut novel … satisfyingly classic in feel’
GUARDIAN

‘A heartfelt and mystical children’s adventure story.’
TELEGRAPH

Asha lives in the foothills of the Himalayas. Money is tight and
she misses her papa who works in the city. When he suddenly stops
sending his wages, a ruthless moneylender ransacks their home and
her mother talks of leaving.

From her den in the mango tree, Asha makes a pact with her best friend,
Jeevan, to find her father and make things right. But the
journey is dangerous: they must cross the world’s highest mountains
and face hunger,
tiredness – even snow leopards.

And yet, Asha has the unshakeable sense that the spirit bird of her
grandmother – her nanijee – is watching over her …