A quick note this morning to celebrate the landmark achievement of Frances Hardinge last night. Her wonderful, wicked, complex young adult novel The Lie Tree won the Costa Prize. The whole damn thing. All of it.
If I could insert an emoticon or some sort of wizardry here to express how I feel about that, I would. Suffice to say, I’m happy. Extremely. I loved this book when I read it. It’s just great. Sometimes ‘just’ feels a little belittling to a book, but I don’t think it is here. The Lie Tree is so fully definitive in its jagged, lyrical, state that it is just a hell of a book. It is justly, just great. A book. A fierce, fierce, wonderful book.
And if that doesn’t convince you, here’s a second fact : The Lie Tree is the second children’s book to win the prize in thirty years. The first is The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. Not a bad book to be shelved with. Not a bad book at all.
Break the walls down Frances, break them down.
Congratulations!
Daisy May Johnson 
One thought on “‘The Lie Tree’ by Frances Hardinge has won the Costa Prize”