Flood Child is my first novel. It grew out of a picture I had in my head, that wouldn’t go away, of a girl sailing a boat through a flooded London. When I sat down and started writing the first chapter, the girl just started talking, telling me about her life and the poor, ravaged world she lived in. And then, before I knew what had happened, she got home to discover her village had been raided… And the reavers swaggered their way into the story.
It took me two years on and off to finish the book, but then I had no idea how to get a book published. My mum and dad said I ought to enter a competition they’d read about, and so I entered the first Times/Chicken House children’s writer competition. And I won! I can honestly say that the day of the announcement was one of the most astonishing in my life, and I fully expected to be going home with a booby prize. But the book was published under the title Reavers Ransom, then re-issued as Flood Child. In the United States it is called Raiders’ Ransom, in Germany Flutland, in the Netherlands Rovers, in France La Rançon des Pirates. . In fact, it has now been published in 18 languages, in countries from Spain to Hungary to China. It has been shortlisted for a number of awards and was in the Book Trust’s ‘Booked Up’ list for 2009/10.
If you’ve read it, in whatever language,
I really hope you enjoyed it.
Why not write to me at emily@emilydiamand.com
and let me know what you think?
“Possesses all the qualities I look for in a novel and then some… an amazing, accomplished story” Malorie Blackman
“Funny, clever and a towering adventure.” The Times
Listed in Best Children’s Books of 2009 Kirkus Reviews (US)
Listed in 100 Best Books for Reading and Sharing New York Times Public Library
Other Editions
