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The Snake-stone

by Berlie Doherty

A search for family history, told from two sides

Regular price $10.60 USD
Regular price $16.57 USD Sale price $10.60 USD
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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A search for family history, told from two sides

James’s discovery of a snake-stone among the belongings from his earliest days sets him on a search for his birth mother in Derbyshire’s Peak District. The novel links that outward journey to larger questions of adoption, identity, and how knowledge of the past shapes a person’s sense of the future. Alongside James’s determination and his training for a junior diving competition, his birth mother’s account unfolds through flashbacks, presenting the circumstances around his conception and birth from her perspective. The book’s structure places an adopted child’s questions beside the history he is trying to uncover.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Children’s fiction readers interested in adoption and family history
  • Readers who enjoy stories about identity and searching for origins
  • Ages 9–12

Themes

AdoptionIdentityBirth familyFamily historyBelonging

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

James is adopted. He knows that to work out his future he has to make sense of his past. He embarks on a journey to find his birth-mother who tells her own story in this moving and powerful novel.

James's adoptive parents are proud of his talent and determination. He's in training for the Junior National Diving Competition. But when he discovers the snake-stone in a box with his other 'belongings' from his time as an abandoned baby, he determines to set out on a quest to find his birth mother. He must make sense of his past if he is to work out his future. James travels to the Derbyshire Peak District to begin his search. Events leading up to James conception and birth are told in his birth-mother's own voice, in flashbacks, and the most moving, poignant and powerful story is told.

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