Matthew Crow – författare

Francis Wootton''s first memory is of Kurt Cobain''s death and there have since been other hardships much closer to home. At fifteen, he knows all about loss and rejection, and if he''s honest, Francis- would-be poet, possible intellectual - feels he is wasted in Tyne and Wear. Lower Fifth is supposed to be his time: but when he is diagnosed with leukaemia, a whole new world of worry presents itself. There''s the horror of being held back a year at school, the threat of imminent baldness. But he hadn''t reckoned on meeting Amber and finding a reason to tackle it all - the good the bad and everything in-between - head on.

A small town. A missing schoolgirl. A terrible secret. And one girl''s fight to survive.Sixteen-year-old Claudette Flint is coming home from hospital after an escalating depression left her unable to cope. She may seem unchanged on the outside; but everything''s different. The same could be said about her seaside hometown. A local teenager, Sarah, has disappeared. Sarah had a bad reputation round town; but now she''s vanished the close-knit community seems to be unspooling. As the police investigate and the press digs around for dirt, small town scandals start to surface. What nobody knows yet is that Claudette and Sarah had a secret friendship. And that the last secret Sarah shared may be the key to the truth.After weeks of focusing solely on herself, Claudette realizes she is not the only part of the world that needs fixing - and that if she can piece together the fragments of Sarah''s story, then maybe she can piece herself back together too.Another Place is a novel about lost girls, recovered life - and the meaning of home.

''The fact that this novel is so witty is incidental to how good it is - it has characters you care about deeply and a heart as big as a cathedral'' Miles Jupp''The finest love story I have read in years. Perfect I''d say.'' Phyllida Shrimpton, author of Sunflowers in FebruaryMr Baxter is ninety-four years old when he falls down his staircase and finds himself resident at Melrose Gardens Retirement Home.Baxter is many things - raconteur, retired music teacher, rabble-rouser, bon viveur; but ''good patient'' he is not. Indeed, Melrose Gardens is his worst nightmare. Then he meets Gregory.Greg is just nineteen years old, but he has already suffered a loss so heavy that he is in danger of giving up on life before he even gets going. Seeing the boy''s pain, Baxter decides to take him under his wing.Together they embark on a spirited journey to the war graves of Northern France, for Baxter to pay tribute to the love of his life; the man he waved off to fight in a senseless war; the man who never returned. As Baxter shares his memories, Gregory starts to see that life need not be a matter of mere endurance; that the world is huge and beautiful; that kindness is strength; and that the only way to honour the dead, is to live every last second we have while we''re here.