The Bone Sparrow - Paperback

by Zana Fraillon (Author), S. Shakthidharan (Adapted by)

Subhi is a refugee. Born in an Australian permanent detention centre after his mother fled the violence of a distant homeland, life behind the fences is all he's ever known. Now his imagination is pushing at the limits of his world.

One day, Jimmie appears on the other side of the fence, bringing a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it, she relies on Subhi to unravel her own family's mysterious and moving history. Together, Subhi and Jimmie must find a way to freedom, and they must be braver than they've ever been before...

The Bone Sparrow, Zana Fraillon's powerful and deeply moving novel about the displacement and treatment of refugees and sanctuary seekers, has been widely read and studied around the world since its publication in 2017.

This enthralling stage adaptation by award-winning Australian playwright S. Shakthidharan was first produced on a UK tour in 2022 by Pilot Theatre with York Theatre Royal, Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and Mercury Theatre Colchester.

Author Biography

Zana Fraillon is an Australian writer of fiction for children and young adults based in Melbourne, Australia. Her books include The Bone Sparrow, which has been widely read and studied around the world since its publication in 2016. The Bone Sparrow won the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children, the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the Amnesty CILIP Honour Award. It was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Award and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. It was adapted for the stage by S. Shakthidharan (Pilot Theatre, 2022).

S. Shakthidharan is a writer, director and producer of film and theatre, as well as a composer and performer of original music. He is based in Sydney, Australia. His adaptation of The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon was premiered by Pilot Theatre on a tour of the UK in 2022.