Rooftoppers

Product Information

Rundell’s hero, John Donne, invented new words, and words from Rundell’s pen feel new – at one point, a huge man is described as having “rhinocerosed” across a room, while of our heroine Mal, we are told, “there was something vivid about her, something tremendous, as if she was about to erupt”. There is a chapter in the book where Sophie and Matteo balance for half an hour on a rope high over Paris, feeding the birds that alight on their outstretched arms. Ieri sono stata sveglia fino alle due di notte per finire questa meraviglia ❤ Una favola assolutamente perfetta in questo periodo, una storia che parla di amore, amicizia, coraggio, speranza e legami indissolubili. Chosen by Rob Biddulph, Guest Editor September 2022, as one of his top recommendations - "This was published a few years ago, but Katherine’s books are such favourites in the Biddulph household that I felt the need to tell you about them just in case, for some strange reason, you’ve not read one.

This changes the moment Sophie climbs up through the skylight in her Parisian hotel bedroom to the rooftop above. a highly improbable traverse on a tightrope between buildings, without any training, described as 'a safer option'. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not scared of heights in any way, and the views… well, they’d be pretty incredible, wouldn’t they? Magic for a child, maybe, but this is where my adult self kicked in; I could only handle it by dismissing it as ridiculous. Found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel after a shipwreck on her first birthday, by eccentric young scholar Charles, Sophie seems to be marked out for an unconventional existence.He names her Sophie and brings her to his London home to raise her with love and plenty of Shakespeare. It's mentioned a couple of times that Sophie's mother smells of resin when it it's rosin you use on a bow, also it barely smells unless your nose is touching it. In contrast, the Parisian section is magical in the way that the best fairy tales are - combining elements of the fantastic and the grittily realistic into an irresistible alchemical brew.

Even better, there's Sophie's struggle to find the courage to endure and succeed as she tries to find the source of the strange cello music floating up from somewhere in the sleeping city. When he saves a one year-old child from a sinking cruise ship, Charles decides he wants to keep her and gives her the name Sophie.

There is a wistful, old-fashioned charm to Katherine Rundell’s second book: her poetic language and imaginative approach set this book apart from many other adventure stories for this age group. There had been music in the dining hall, and it was music so loud and so good that nobody had noticed the water flooding in over the carpet. the current GR default is *wrong* because rooftoppers do *not* want to be seen and so are mostly nocturnal. She disapproves of Sophie's appearance and behaviour and says she would "be embarrassed to be seen with her".