Devilskein & Dearlove by Alex Smith

Store/Fiction

Product Details

Weight: 0.30 kg

NOMINATED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2015

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Young Erin Dearlove has lost everything in a violent attack on her family. She now lives with her bohemian aunt Kate in a run-down Cape Town apartment block. Locked into a fantasy of her previous life, she shuns all overtures of friendship from her new neighbours, until she meets Mr Devilskein, the demon who lives on the top floor… and opens a door into another world.

Just as Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book reworked Kipling’s The Jungle Book for a modern audience with a liking for the supernatural, Devilskein & Dearlove is a darker, more edgy, contemporary reworking of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic The Secret Garden. An orphaned teenager is taken in by a reluctant distant relative, and in her new home makes an unexpected friend and finds a secret realm. It has shades of the quirky fantastical in the style of Miyazaki’s (Studio Ghibli) animated films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle (originally a novel by Diana Wynne Jones).

Alex says “As a child The Secret Garden was one of my first favourite novels – one of the first I relished reading by myself. Although Devilskein & Dearlove is very different, it was inspired by that novel and its themes.

Alex Smith’s quirky imagination knows no bounds.

André Brink

Market: Young Adult and Fantasy adult crossover, precocious readers of 9 and over. Readers (young and old) of Neil Gaiman and Markus Zusak in particular will enjoy the mix of glee and horror, darkness and hope; while the story will also appeal to slightly older readers of Roald Dahl, Eoin Colfer and Lemony Snickett.

Alex has been blogging about secret gardens in Cape Town, read more here

Arachne Press editor Cherry Potts talks about Devilskein & Dearlove on Croydon Radio

Alex interviewed on The Good Book Appreciation Society

Alex Interviewed on Teen Librarian

Review of Devilskein & Dearlove from ‘Alan M’ (A Librarian)

Posted on 22/12/2014 by Cherry Potts

Moody, teenage clever clogs Erin meets her match in the magical but malignant Devilskein. At first I thought they deserved each other. Our author’s upfront revelations of Devilskein’s fantastical powers and horrific motivation and the more gradual revelations as to why Erin lies about her past change this.

Amid the caustic wit and at times frantic action, Erin grows to understand the upsides and downsides of having a vivid imagination and about friendships both real and contrived via the vivid worlds opened by the right keys. The only thing that grated was the heavy-handed use of brackets (although I do exactly the same myself).

All praise to Arachne Press and the Carnegie Award judges for unearthing this South African diamond. Alex Smith’s novel pays homage to other classic and contemporary writers whilst being unique in its own right.

Alan M