Sleeping with the Blackbirds - Alex Pearl
Alex Pearl's first novel 'Sleeping with the Blackbirds', a darkly humorous urban fantasy, written for children and young adults, was initially published by PenPress in 2011. It was longlisted by the Millennium Book Awards 2018 and selected by the Indie Author Project in 2019 for distribution to public libraries across the US and Canada. In 2014, his fictionalised account of the first British serviceman to be executed for cowardice during the First World War was published by Mardibooks in its anthology, 'The Clock Struck War'. In 2019, his psychological thriller, 'The Chair Man', which is set in London in 2005 following the terrorist attack on its public transport system, was published by Fizgig Press in 2020, and was a Finalist in the 2021 Wishing Shelf Book Awards. During the Covid epidemic, Alex conducted 100 author interviews online in an attempt to delve into the backgrounds, motivations and working methods of authors across the globe. These interviews were published in 2022 under the title '100 Ways to Write a Book', and all author proceeds are being donated to PEN International. His most recent novel, 'A Brand to Die For' is a comic murder mystery set in the London advertising world of 1983. It is, in fact, the first murder mystery set in a London advertising agency since Dorothy L. Sayers penned 'Murder Must Advertise' back in 1933. His sequel, 'One Man Down', has been taken up by Roundfire Books. Alex lives in NW London with his wife and two children who are far smarter than their old man. He is quite possibly the only human being on this planet to have been inadvertently locked in a record shop on Christmas Eve.
GENRE: YA urban fantasy
Blurb:
Eleven-year-old schoolboy, Roy Nuttersley has been dealt a pretty raw deal. While hideous parents show him precious little in the way of love and affection, school bullies make his life a misery. So Roy takes comfort in looking after the birds in his garden, and in return the birds hatch a series of schemes to protect their new friend. However, these get blown off course - and as a result the lives of both Roy and his arch tormentor, Harry Hodges are turned upside down, but in a good way.
