Requiem

The first part of Requiem is set in Ireland, and beautifully derscribes Cecilia's growing up in a small close-knit family and community.She attends a Catholic convent school and struggles to fit in. Her passion is music. The second part of Requiem moves to Venice, where Cecilia comes of age through her performance as a singer, and romantically through her brief but passionate affair with a childhood sweet-heart.

The Independent newspaper reviewer said of Requiem: 'Moments of near-Joycean epiphany... the plot is tight and the narrative startling.'

Berlie Doherty has received many awards for he fine writing, including (twice) the prestigious Carnegie Medal.

Berlie Doherty is the author of numerous books for children and young adults. She has won the prestigious Carnegie Medal twice -- for Granny Was a Buffer Girl and for Dear Nobody -- and in 1994 Willa and Old Miss Annie was highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. Ms. Doherty began writing tales even before she went to school and at age eight was earning boxes of chocolates and boxes of paints from the local newspapers for her stories and poems. She lives in England.