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Letters from the Upside
- Author
- Katya Balen
- Narrator
- Joe Jameson
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 25 September 2025
- Run Time
- 4 hours 55 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
A captivating story about finding friendship and hope … and a place where you can spread your wings. From Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen.
Con has been angry ever since Dad left. He doesn’t want to be. He wants to play FIFA with his best friend Kyron; to make his mum proud; to let people’s words about his dad roll off him like water. Instead, rage builds inside him until he explodes. Now even Kyron is scared of him. And when Con gets suspended from school he knows he’s let everyone down. The good person he longs to be feels unreachable.
And then his neighbour, Mr Williams, lets him in on a secret.
Up on the roof of Con’s building, Mr Williams keeps homing pigeons. Their feathers are the colour of pearls and storm clouds. Every day they fly out, carrying messages to people in other towns before finding their way home. Mr Williams wants Con’s help looking after them. Con can’t believe it. How could someone like him be trusted with these delicate creatures? But slowly, Con begins to believe that he can.
Then Mr Williams goes away for a few days. Con is left in charge, and he begins to wonder whether the pigeons might be able to bring home more than just messages. Perhaps they could find his dad.
Critics Review
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Make no bones about it: Katya Balen is one of our finest children's writers, and LETTERS FROM THE UPSIDE is a perfect example of her talents. Eloquent and gentle one moment, bracing and soaring the next, it's a book that will nest in your heart and make it take flight
Ross Montgomery, author of I Am Rebel
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Few writers can hold such big feelings in such gentle hands. Katya Balen doesn’t just tell a story, she has a gift for capturing the hush between words and filling it with meaning. She writes with the kind of quiet power that leaves echoes long after reading."
Jenny Pearson, author of The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates
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Details
- Author
- Katya Balen
- Narrator
- Joe Jameson
- Duration
- 4 hours 55 minutes
- Release Date
- 25 September 2025
- ISBN
- 9781526663924
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Children’s / Teenage fiction: General, modern and contemporary fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Family and home stories, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Pets and pet care: Birds
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Letters From the Upside by Katya Balen read by Joe Jameson A captivating story about finding friendship and hope … and a place where you can spread your wings. From Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen.Con has been angry ever since Dad left. He doesn’t want to be. He wants to play FIFA with his best friend Kyron; to make his mum proud; to let people’s words about his dad roll off him like water. Instead, rage builds inside him until he explodes. Now even Kyron is scared of him. And when Con gets suspended from school he knows he’s let everyone down. The good person he longs to be feels unreachable.And then his neighbour, Mr Williams, lets him in on a secret.Up on the roof of Con’s building, Mr Williams keeps homing pigeons. Their feathers are the colour of pearls and storm clouds. Every day they fly out, carrying messages to people in other towns before finding their way home. Mr Williams wants Con’s help looking after them. Con can’t believe it. How could someone like him be trusted with these delicate creatures? But slowly, Con begins to believe that he can.Then Mr Williams goes away for a few days. Con is left in charge, and he begins to wonder whether the pigeons might be able to bring home more than just messages. Perhaps they could find his dad.
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