A magical, charming and deeply moving fable about love, family, war and resilience from the Costa Prize-winning author of DayIncredibly moving, yet joyful. It made me cry
Charming lessons in life, death and kindness . . . This heartwarming fable is a reassuring read for anyone, young or old, coming to terms with mortality . . . Hugely moving
After entering Kennedy's world, it's hard to find a way out . . . In
The Little Snake, the swift emotional slippages click along, one after another, sentence after sentence, like an intricate concatenation of rainbow-bright dominoes. Funny, surprising and unexpected . . . Kennedy's prose - like the endlessly unreeling speculations of her most interesting characters - is simultaneously logical and illogical, sad and funny, simple and profound, turning over and over in endless permutations, like an elegant small snake wrestling against the constraints of its own shiny and menacing skin
Teaches its protagonists lessons about cruelty, mortality and above all, love . . . [An] enchanting modern fairy tale . . . A fable for our time . . . Kennedy's humour and lightness of touch serves to underscore her serious intent: an urgent reminder of the small and great things that actually give life its meaning
A miniature fable . . . In this bitter age of broken borders, this timely, timeless story's large helping of sugar is not unwelcome
As for brave, kind heroines, you can't do better than A.L. Kennedy's
The Little Snake, about a girl who one day finds a handsome, vain snake wrapped round her ankle. It brings death, but they become friends. A lovely story, and good for readers of any age
An homage to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's
The Little Prince, this fairytale novella is a simple but sumptuous read
A beautiful, deceptively-simple read that delves into the human condition . . . Gorgeous turn of phrase . . . The result is a brief read that is poetic, life-affirming and saddening - and you don't want the end to come
Playful . . . sweet, sad but always a hairsbreadth away from whimsy, it's told in a soothing tone that, for better or worse, makes you feel as if you're sitting cross-legged on a classroom carpet
Kennedy offers a gentle, clear-sighted and deeply moving commentary on what humanity really means
A.L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards, including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in London and is a part-time lecturer in creative writing at the University of Warwick.
@Writerer | a-l-kennedy.co.uk