Baby Love
Long-listed for the Orange Prize
Cambridge-educated Evangeline Gower worked as a belly dancer in the West End of London until the motorbike crash that injured her and killed her eight-months-pregnant sister. Now, three years on, she leads an exemplary life, writing and and bringing up her sister’s daughter as her own. But when she receives a phone call from Lily’s hitherto absent father, and goes through a no-entry sign by mistake, she ends up not only in trouble with the police, but drawn into a nasty world of drug dealers, pornographers and bent coppers that seems to have bizarre connections with her sister’s past. With a plot that makes you rush to the end, this is a thriller without violence, a romance without sentiment and a brilliantly exciting debut novel.
From the press:
Brilliant, unique – an exceptional first novel
The Guardian
Baby Love is as rich and improbable as a story told by Scheherezade … intelligent, funny and tough, Evangeline even manages to pull off the remarkable feat of making all those Victorian virtues that one acquires in the course of single parenthood – patience, endurance, self-denial – sound positively sexy…. spectacularly worth reading
Jane Shilling, The Times
Blends a promiscuous mix of single motherhood, belly dancing, psychotic boyfriends and motorbikes into a stylishly literate thriller
Marie Claire
Exciting, compelling and tense
Time Out
Funny and scary, with a memorable David Lynch-style take on Shepherd’s Bush. In writing honestly and unsentimentally, Young celebrates the unequivocal nature of parental love with verve and style
Julie Myerson, Mail on Sunday
A novel with grand ambitions, straining at the seams… I do not expect to read a better novel about the belly dancers of West London for some while
The Daily Telegraph
Young write with an appealing, trenchant style. She doesn’t feel the need to posture and she deals with sex, pornography, love and death incisively and succinctly
Edward Docx, Sunday Express
From the readers:
You will keep coming back to this book when you should be doing something else
Louis de Bernieres
Funny, feisty, sexy and tender
Esther Freud
A compelling, sexy sensitive book. A great story . . . sexual politics and suspense. Touching and well-observed relationship between mother and child. But I want to know what happens next . . .
Goodness, what a silly book. Louisa Young can definitely write. But what ridiculous storylines and characters! The heroine is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed belly-dancer, for a start, who gets embroiled in all sorts of outlandish and improbable situations. I just felt that Young was trying too hard to be cool, trying to impress the reader with how hard she is (couldn’t shake the feeling that Evangeline was Young) All that motorbike stuff and hard-faced one-liners that no woman I know would ever come out with. To the reader who wanted to know what happens next, there is a sequel on its way apparently. Whoopee. 2 out of 5 stars
Desiring Cairo
‘When Hakkim ibn Ismail el Araby turned up on my doorstep, trailing clouds of chaos in his wake, I naturally assumed that the anonymous letters had something to do with him. Not that they were from him – like the rest of his family, the boy could haggle in ten languages and convert currencies to his own advantage quicker than I could find a calculator, but writing in English was not one of his accomplishments. No, I rather thought they might be to him. . .’
Angeline Gower still has the bad leg, the good heart and the child that doesn’t belong to her; but she now likes her ex-boyfriend, knows her pyschotic admirer (and his wife) and is beginning to forgive her dead sister. As for her past – up from it pops a beautiful Egyptian boy who has lost his mother, trailing in his wake all kinds of chaos including his even more beautiful older brother, who leads Evangeline back to Cairo and Upper Egypt where her past, her future and her old enemy all need sorting out.
‘Desiring Cairo’ is a novel about love and fantasy, home and abroad, west London and the West Bank of the Nile, the nature of strength and the necessity of weakness, the love of children and the love of men, redemption and responsibility, the possibility of happiness and the risks inherent in being too affected by the colour of palm-tree fronds at dawn. It’s book two of the Evangeline Gower trilogy.
From the press:
Disarmingly honest, sexy slangy and streetwise. The novel’s idiosyncratic blend of adventure, comedy and gritty realism is wonderfully punctuated by lyrically erudite meditations on subjects as diverse as the origin of the Dance of the Seven Veils, the qualities and colours of alabaster and the attributes of the ancient Egyptian gods. It is this unusual blend of realism and romance, of adventurousness and thoughtful honesty that make Evangeline so likeable and the novel so exhilarating, and genuinely serious
The Sunday Times
In Sa’id, Young has created the the most fascinating and seductive romantic hero in yonks. As well as being compelling and witty, Desiring Cairo is immensely touching, leaving haunting traces across the reader’s heart and mind. Majestic
The Big Issue
A romantic hymn to the struggle of being independent… it is the compulsive quality of this writing which gives Louisa Young’s books such wide appeal
The Times
From the readers:
..a tale that is richer, sexier, more moving and just as exciting as the first….
I read and enjoyed Baby Love, and wasn’t sure how it could be continued, but in fact there was much more depth in Desiring Cairo, following up the same themes but really doing them justice, while being funny and exciting too, just as Baby Love was. Angeline falls in love, and a lot of the book is set in Egypt, not just as a backdrop but as a real country. It said in the Sunday Times that this book was ‘exhilarating and genuinely serious’ – I couldn’t see how a sequel to Baby Love could be serious at all but it is. I recommend it a lot
I read a review of Desiring Cairo in which they said Louisa Young’s talent lay in creating sexy believable but fundamentally decent men. Having read the whole of her trilogy I agree. Evangeline is a great stroppy heroine with none of the mushy self-doubt which ruins so many ‘chick books’. As for her heroes. Sa’id is great as the unobtainable dream but it is Harry who sticks in the mind — louche, laidback and believable — I have to say I grew up in Shepherd’s Bush and Acton and god I would have died for a man like him. Anyway read this for a good laugh, a great read and some occasionally serious fun
The other two books are good but this one has something special. It’s not a ‘chick’ book its an up-to-date equivalent to Jane Austen. Just read it. Trust me ok?
Tree of Pearls
There are many kinds of love: love for the glamorous stranger, love of a child, love that keeps things safe and well, love that transcends race, love that pushes you off the roof of an Egyptian temple…Angeline Gower is back home, safe and well in her own bath – she thinks. But trouble hasn’t finished with her yet – in which case trouble had better watch out, because she hasnt finished with it either. There’s trouble in the form of her old enemy, the slippery lovesick gangster Eddie Bates – and his alcoholic wife. There’s trouble with Harry the cop, who she’s known forever, father of her child, and with Sa’id the alabaster merchant, who her heart won’t forget, also – as it turns out – the father of her child. Back in Luxor, a series of emotional chicanes and political realities threaten Angeline’s determination to protect her daughter and make things as right as she can, until, in the words of the Daily Mail: ‘beneath the scorching desert sun, this tangled web finally resolves itself’.
From the press:
Exceptional – Louisa Young has written about love – mother love, tender love, passionate love – better than anyone else’
The Big Issue
Urban thriller, epic romance, exotic travelogue? Louisa Young’s swashbuckling heroine Evageline Gower is a world away from the girlie singletons of mainstream fiction. Confident in her sexuality, relaxed about her looks, she is a single mother and ex-bellydancer, with more than the next month’s rent on her mind…. Young’s writing can be as lush as it is streetwise. It’s this combination that makes Tree of Pearls such an entertaining read
The Independent
The exotic intensity and formality of Arabic culture gives Tree of Pearls its poignancy and tension… set in London and Luxor, it is essentially a love story. There is the destructive, warped love of gangster Eddie Bates; the old love between Evangeline and Harry, the petty crook turned cop who for years has worn her name tattooed across his biceps, and the fiery insistent love that draws Evangeline to Sa’id, the alabaster merchant who doesn’t want to want her, but does
The Daily Mail
Generous, humourous, fascinating… Young makes decency interesting, and that’s no mean feat
The Guardian
Terrific – full of humour, drama, warmth and wisdom
Woman's Own
Compelling to the end
The Times
From readers:
The story unfolds slowly and gracefully, with a gorgeous soundtrack for the heartache and dangerous events: ‘. . . and then, oh glorious joy, Umm Khalthoum singing Enta Omri -You Are My Life. Whenever I hear it my backbone grows longer and my foot arches, I begin to sway and to feel a mild but definite yearning for the weight of a heavily sequinned band around my hips”. Louisa Young doesn’t stick to a plain old story but allows Evangeline digression and musings that shimmer and sparkle. She contemplates mythology, the colours of the landscape and the sky, the rapture in Egyptian love songs. Tree of Pearls is seductive, romantic and realistic. Evangeline Gower is redeemed by love but remains strong and independent, and in control of her own life: ‘I close no doors. I send love. I am not wasting away for you.’
Eithne Farry
Louisa Young’s prose is beautiful and so well-crafted that it seems effortless. Her characters are human and believable and so much of her writing about feelings and relationships strikes a real chord with me. I read this book in a day, despite having a million other things to do and find it inconceivable that other readers wouldn’t enjoy it!
The prose can be thoroughly seductive and verging on the literary, even though the novel is far too entertaining to qualify for the literary tag (usually reserved for the unreadably turgid rather than brilliantly written)
Lionboy
For years Louisa Young and her daughter Isabel made up stories together about naughty little Charlie, the boy who could talk to cats. When Isabel was about eight, she asked her mother to write them down… ‘I was meant to be writing a novel for adults about love and death and Rachmaninov,’ Louisa wrote, ‘but gradually Charlie took over. We made up a nom de plume for ourselves — Zizou Corder — and our three novels about Charlie — Lionboy; Lionboy: The Chase and Lionboy: The Truth — have been published in 36 languages. They’ve taken us across Europe and around the world to Argentina, Japan, Thailand and the US. We’ve sold the film rights three times — to Dreamworks twice, and to Warner Bros — but won’t believe a film will happen till we’re putting on our lipstick for the Premiere. Or, at this rate, our zimmer frames.’
In 2013 the theatre company Complicité made a show from the Lionboy books, which toured the world.
Charlie Ashanti can speak Cat. He takes it for granted — but when his mum and dad go missing, the cats are the only friends he can turn to. Setting out to find his parents, Charlie stows away on an incredible circus ship bound for Paris. On board he meets six proud, beautiful lions who need his help: if he helps them escape the circus and get back to Africa, they’ll help him find his parents. But many enemies stand in their way: the cool, mean teenager Rafi, Maccomo the mysterious liontamer and, above all, whoever it is who has stolen Charlie’s parents.
From the press:
A new star has appeared in the children’s literary firmament… sparkles with wisdom and wisecracks… startlingly original in characters, setting and plot
The Independent
One of the best books of the year
Mail on Sunday
Simply absolutely brilliant
The Disney's Big Time
A cracking pace and excellent jokes
The Guardian
Stunning
The Observer
From the readers:
An excellent novel that I would strongly recommend to all, It had me gripped thoughtout and I couldn’t wait to keep reading more. I am looking forward to the next book
William H.F
I like your book Lionboy I did not like reading before Lionboy now I like reading.
Leon
I may not have read Lionboy but I know a good book when I see one and Lionboy is a very good book
Ralph
Lionboy the Chase
Charlie Ashanti is on the run from an amazing floating circus with six homesick beautiful Lions and an extraordinary sabre-toothed creature – or he would be if he wasn’t stuck in a snowy avalanche in the Orient Express. Charlie has promised to help the Lions find their way home to Morocco but he has his own problems: his Mum and Dad have been kidnapped and he is determined to find them.
His new friends, King Boris of Bulgaria – who drives his own train, when not travelling by hot-air balloon – and his security chief, Edward, have promised to help. But can Charlie and the Lions trust them?
Through the Alps to Venice and beyond, alongside genetically engineered pets, revolutionary gondoliers and Sergei the sarcastic one-eared Northener, the chase is on …
From the press:
I am lost in admiration… this is not just a fun book, it is a wise one
The Independent
Thrilling moments and dangerous scrapes… we give this a big paws up!
Funday Times
An evocative, suspenseful tale of betrayal and courage
The Sunday Times
Direct, vivid and engaging
The Times
From the readers:
This is the book i”m reading. the first one was good but so far the second one is much better. LIONBOY ROX THE HOUSE DOWN
tommy.d
Lionboy the Truth
Charlie Ashanti – lion-rescuer, shipwreck-survivor and Catspeaker – is in a seaside town in Morocco, safe with his parents. Or is he? Old enemies are closing in: Maccomo the lion-trainer longs for revenge, Rafi the mean teenager is furious, and the evil Corporacy want his mum and dad back – but Charlie will do, as bait.
Charlie, one-eared Sergei and Ninu the brave and peculiar chameleon could hide from trouble. But the time to hide is over. Now is the time to fight back…
From the press:
Stunning
The Daily Express
Sparkling in wit and fantasy
’ The Times Educational Supplement
Fabulous
The Observer
From the readers:
Beautifully written. It’s suspensefulnense and unpredictalidy (not words!) made me not able to put it down
Lia
Lee Raven, Boy Thief
Lee Raven, boy thief, has stolen something he really didn’t mean to. Now he faces a perilous flight through London (and the murky sewers below) as he tries to escape capture – because Lee has stolen the Book of Nebo, a book that has existed for thousands of years and has a different story in it each time you pick it – a story it has chosen specially for you. It’s priceless, but more than that – it’s peculiar. Some will even kill to possess it. The future of Nebo is in Lee’s hands – can he prevent the most dangerous ending of them all?
From the press:I LOVE this book. It’s the best children’s book I’ve read in years, and once I finished it, I wanted to start it all over again. … has a magical twist with every page. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant fun. What a great book Heatseeker
Like Artemis Fowl, this is a rollicking good adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously. . . a wonderful story. Lots of fun and hard to put downLibrarything
From the readers:
This book was showed in my school assembly and I thought that I really had to get it out to read. When I would start reading I couldn’t stop and I like the way that it is written from so many peoples points of view in the story. I look forward to reading more of Zizou Corder’s booksRobert
Halo
Shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2010, and nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2011.
Washed ashore as a baby in ancient Periclean Greece, just as legend is fading away and recorded history starting to happen, Halo is discovered by a family of Centaurs. Her identity a mystery, she is taken in and loved as one of their own. But when Halo is dragged away by fishermen who want to sell her as a slave, her wild adventure begins . . . Halo soon realises that if she is to survive then she must live in disguise — as a boy. A violent war is threatening to erupt and Halo is at the mercy of mighty Spartan warriors. Alongside her best friend, the Centaur Arko, trying to hide her secret, beset by enemies, Halo forges her way to Athens, the centre of power and knowledge — determined to find out who she is, and where she really came from.
From the press:
‘Rarely is a so-called children’s book a real page-turner for adults, but with Halo, Zizou Corder has created something special that tackles adult themes of gender equality, politics and identity in a simple, compelling way…. A fresh and truly captivating read’
The Scotsman
From the readers:
Have you written any more because I have read them all and I need another one
Joshua
Will Halo ever find her real family? Or will everything she loves be destroyed? Find out in this exciting new book set in Ancient Greece that mixes fact and fiction together to create an amazing, un-put-down-able story – I loved every page!
Charlotte
It’s wonderful. It kept me up till half past one. But you mention a sack of potatos, and they didn’t have potatos in Greece then
Liz, aged 86 (Louisa's mother)
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