Description

Twelve-year-old Anna’s parents are going through a rough patch, but Anna can’t let them split up. Not when it might mean living apart from Anto, her twin brother. Anto might be a boy, and he might not speak (except using Lego bricks), and he might carry a coat hanger about like it’s his closest friend, but that doesn’t stop the two of them being like peas in a pod. It’s a twin thing, and nobody’s going to separate them.

So Anna hatches a plan: get the whole family on a plane to Italy. Her parents have always been happiest on holiday. How can they fail to fall back in love at a swanky hotel with an actual pool to swim in and everything!

But when Anna discovers more about why her family has grown apart, suddenly a happy holiday in Italy seems about as likely as swimming on the moon …

Publisher Review

Conaghan, a beautiful writer who loves to surprise, takes this unlikely pair of cowboys on a road trip to the north of the country. And so Bruce becomes the father figure Lenny needs, Lenny the responsibility Bruce craves as their back stories get a slow reveal. * Alex O'Connell, The Times Children's Book of the Week on Cardboard Cowboys * With the feel of a modern-day classic, this book will make readers cry but is also hysterically funny and life-affirming * BookTrust Great Books Guide 2021 on Cardboard Cowboys * This is an energetic charmer of a book * Irish Times on Cardboard Cowboys *