The M Word

Moya. The M Word. Whisper it. Conceal it. But, please, never mention it ...
Maggie Yates tells her best mate Moya everything.
She tells her about Mum losing her job - how Mum's taken to crying in secret. She even tells her about her foolproof plan to cheer Mum up: find her a fella with cash to splash.
Moya's with her every step of the way. I'll help, she smiles. Though you're surfing a rainbow if you think someone like that exists round here.
But at the back of her mind Maggie knows that Mum's crying is more than sadness. That there are no easy fixes. And that she shouldn't be speaking to Moya any more. Because Moya died months ago.
An unforgettable novel about grief and healing from Costa Children's and Irish Book Award-winner Brian Conaghan

Brian Conaghan lives and works in the Scottish town of Coatbridge. He has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, and worked as a teacher for many years. His novel When Mr Dog Bites was shortlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal. The Bombs That Brought Us Together won the 2016 Costa Children's Book Award, The Weight of a Thousand Feathers won the 2018 Irish Book Award for Teen/YA Book of the Year, and We Come Apart, a verse novel co-authored with Carnegie Medal-winner Sarah Crossan, won the 2018 UKLA Book Award. Cardboard Cowboys, Brian's first middle-grade novel, published in 2021 and is full of his trademark heart, humour and crackling dialogue. Swimming on the Moon is his second middle-grade novel.
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