Spellhorn - Berlie Doherty

A blind girl and a unicorn in a world where magic and reality merge together. Can Laura save the Wild Ones and take them to the safety of the Bright Wilderness?

Laura is blind, but though she cannot see, she is an acutely perceptive child. As soon as she climbs onto the unicorn's back she is hurled into a wild and magical world. Though a contemporary child, living in a contemporary setting, Spellhorn and the Wild Ones see Laura as their leader and they know that only through Laura can they reach the safety of the Bright Wilderness. But can the unicorns lead Laura back home to her own world?

Powerful and moving, a delicious blend of fantasy and reality.

Berlie Doherty was born in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, the youngest of three children. She always wanted to be a writer, but when she was little there were many things she wanted to be - a singer, ballet dancer, air hostess, librarian. Her serious writing started at university, where she trained to be a teacher. Now she lives in an isolated cottage in the country and writes in a barn overlooking the Pennines. She says of her writing: "After I finish a book I'm quite sad because I feel grieved that I have lost someone close; a great deal of myself is in my books."

"Berlie Doherty has magic in her."
Junior Bookshelf