Description

A magical medieval tale from two masters, Newbery Medal-winning Kate DiCamillo and Caldecott Medal-winning Sophie Blackall – a fantastical meditation on fate, love and the power of words to spell the world.

We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home.

In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the recalcitrant goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret – one that imperils them all.

And so it is that a girl with a head full of stories must venture into a dark wood in search of the castle of a king who wishes her dead. But should she lose her way, Beatryce knows that those who love her – a wild-eyed monk, a man who had once been king, a boy with a terrible sword and a goat with a head as hard as stone – will never give up searching for her. And to know this is to know everything.

Publisher Review

Absolutely extraordinary. Every time I read a Kate DiCamillo book I'm blown away! Little Beatryce stole my heart [...] It lifted me out of lockdown and reignited a childlike wonder in the power of stories (and love) to change the world. It's a beauty of a book. * Abi Elphinstone * Everything she writes glitters with ideas [...] The Beatryce Prophecy, (is) a highly original tale [...] In the course of the story, written in a distinctive, compulsive style that sucks you in like a literary vacuum cleaner, DiCamillo, based in Minneapolis, raises big questions about the education of girls, the sort of world we want to inhabit, how we should live in it and what sort of qualities one should have to lead it. [...] DiCamillo has an inbuilt lightness of touch and a way with plot as Beatryce endeavours to return a sword to the king, free her mother from his tower and teach Jack how to read. * The Times * I fervently hope it reaches as wide a young audience as it deserves, to live as long inside them. * The Big Issue * Featured in The Bookseller's May Previews 2022. * The Bookseller * everything [Kate Di Camillo] writes glitters with ideas * The Times *