One hundred and fifty-two days - Giles Paley-Phillips

'Superb, moving, beautiful' Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

He will be allowed to visit his mother soon. His mother who is terminally ill, his mother who he has been barred from seeing as he recovers from his own bout of pneumonia.

Until then, with the help of his physiotherapist Freya, he must navigate his increasingly empty and isolated existence: his father, who finds solace in the bottom of a glass; his Nana Q, whose betting-slip confetti litters her handbag; his friends, who simply wouldn't understand.

Time passes with the promise of soon, but one hundred and fifty-two days later the boy will come face to face with his grief, and move beyond to a world full of possibility, hope and love.

Giles Paley-Phillips was born in East Sussex in 1977. He is a musician who has performed at Glastonbury, and is the author of nine books, including The Fearsome Beastie, which has now sold over 70,000 copies and won The People's Book Prize 2012 and The Heart Of Hawick Children's Book Award 2013.Giles has made several TV appearances including Good Morning Britain and an author special of BBC2's Eggheads, and is a judge on ITV's Share a Story. He also writes a regular book column for Title magazine and is co-host of BLANK podcast which launched in 2018.