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Where the Heart Should Be

The Times Children's Book of the Week

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Where the Heart Should Be

By: Sarah Crossan
Narrated by: Sophie Jo Wasson
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Bloomsbury presents Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan, read by Sophie Jo Wasson.

‘A beautiful, perfect, moving read’ – Cecelia Ahern, author of PS, I Love You

The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger.

Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there's not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth. Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family's land, their crops, everything. His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in.

Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all. And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other.

This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart. This is a powerful and unforgettable novel from the phenomenally talented Sarah Crossan.

‘A beautifully written, tightly observed novel’ – The Times

'Unmissable' – Daily Mail

‘Irresistibly emotive’ – The Sunday Times

‘Thrums with longing, beauty, loss and strength’ – Katya Balen, author of October, October Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction
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Critic reviews

One of our finest novelists. Where the Heart Should Be is a thing of beauty.
Sarah Crossan’s writing is powerful and necessary
A tour de force from Sarah Crossan
Where the Heart Should Be thrums with longing, beauty, loss and strength.
A beautifully written, tightly observed novel... completely absorbing. (Lucy Bannerman)
With tenderness and unexpected humour, this story is irresistibly emotive as events unfold with almost unbearable tension, mitigated only by the promise at the beginning that true love wins (Nicolette Jones)
Outstanding... Crossan's economy of words is no barrier to intense emotional impact in this powerhouse of a novel
A beautiful, perfect, moving read (Cecelia Ahern)
Mesmerising, beautiful and full of rage (Holly Bourne)
Unmissable
Terrific on every level
PRAISE FOR TOFFEE: "Utterly Sublime", - Cecelia Ahern, "Impossible not to read it in a single gulp" - The Times, "Undoubtedly one of the best books of the year" - Irish Times, "Compelling and beautifully wrought" - The Sunday Times, "A book that changes its reader for the better" - The Guardian, "One of our most original writers" - John Boyne
PRAISE FOR ONE: "The best book I've read in years. It's a spectacular testament to love. It blows your head back" - Katherine Rundell
All stars
Most relevant
The performance was powerful! A great story to illustrate a period of human devastation that has remained with the people of Ireland and shaped much of its politics to date. I loved the characters and the story-highly recommend!

Poignant, heartwarming and tragic!

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A sad but beautiful story. Had me hooked the whole way through and sad it ended. Nothing I wouldn’t let my teen listen to, and historically educational, too.

Absolutely gorgeous.

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One of the most beautiful and heartbreaking books I have read in a very long time.

Absolutely incredible!!!

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I shed a few years towards the end. very moving. and very well written. the narrator was wonderful, but I can't understand why it was broken down in to paragraphs instead of chapters, and the title of every single one read out. it ruined parts of the story.

very moving story

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This is a great, moving novel. It conveys the injustice, horror and despair of the Great Hunger viscerally. While I wasn't sure how plausible the romance was (and you could be forgiven for rolling your eyes at the Hollywood-esque concept of 'The Irish Famine: A Love Story'), I couldn't help but become invested in it. The style of the book, with its short chapters, make it as easy a read as it can be, given the subject matter. I really enjoyed this.

Very moving

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