Music of the Wings

Author: David Almond
Translator: Olga Varshaver
Publisher: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber (MIF)
Series: MIF. Event Books
ISBN: 978-5-00195-483-5
Pages: 208 (Offset)
Design
Weight: 242 g
Dimensions: 197x133x12 mm

A poetic book about primordial music and communion with the world in Olga Varshaver's brilliant translation. The author David Almond is a modern classic, an Andersen Award winner and a Carnegie Medal recipient.

City girl, the brave rebel Sylvia, comes to the north of England, to a village, and everything around seems foreign and hostile to her, and the heather moors and the endless empty sky bring melancholy. She longs to return to Newcastle - where the phone works, where her friends are waiting for her. Everything changes in an instant when she meets a young man named Gabriel...

They wander together through the hills and forests, and Sylvia looks at nature with completely new eyes. It turns out that the past is everywhere - both right underfoot and deep inside a person. Sylvia feels herself part of nature, fills herself with its mighty power and returns to the city, ready not just to survive in the modern world, but to change it, to make it better and more perfect.

Who this book is for
For children from 12 years old.

For adults who appreciate good literature.

From translator Olga Varshaver
Almond is a special author for me, not just another one. "Music of Wings" (originally Bone Music) is David's ninth book, which I was lucky enough to translate.

David is a bird-man. Starting with his very first and famous book, "Skellig", he invariably writes about people with wings - sometimes figuratively, and sometimes in the most literal sense of the word. Sometimes he is included among the magical realists, but even among them he holds a special place, because, say, Marquez and Borges are writers for adults, while David writes for young readers.

And David is also a happiness-man. And here I have to say a few words about his surname, which we transliterate, write as it is written, with an L, but it is pronounced in English as AMOND. David always answers the question about the pronunciation of his surname this way: "I am like an almond." Once I told this story at a meeting with readers in North Ossetia, in Vladikavkaz. And I feel that my rather reserved listeners suddenly began to whisper. What is it, I ask? They answer: yes, and write AMOND, because AMOND in Ossetian means happiness.

Here, I think, everything comes together. David is a bird-man and a happiness-man. He was very pleased when I told him this story.

David Almond is not just an author for me, but a friend. We have a lot in common. In particular - a love of theater. There are already many theatrical productions based on his books in Russia. And we are very happy about this. David himself wrote plays based on his books "Skellig" and "My Father, a Bird", I also wrote several adaptations or, more precisely, plays based on his texts. I am especially happy when directors read prose and offer their own stage versions of what they have read. I believe that this will definitely happen with the book "Music of Wings". Right now we are signing a contract according to which I will be Almond's "stage" agent in Russia. So - welcome, theaters!
For middle and older school ages.