A fantastic epic and magical adventure story set in a beautifully realised world that's almost but not quite like our own.  Barkbelly is a wooden boy, brought up by loving human parents, whose life falls apart when he accidentally kills one of his playmates and has to go on the run.  His journey turns into a quest for his real home and his real mother, and takes in along the way the circus, fierce pirates and mysterious giant hedgehogs.  Full of poetry, magic, and dark twists of fate, Barkbelly discovers what can happen when your dreams come true, but not in the way you expect.

A short interview with Cat Weatherill

Place of birth?  Liverpool

Favourite book?  The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  Why? In three words:  Wonder, wisdom, heart.

Favourite song?  How can anyone choose one song?  Surely it depends on your mood at the time?!  My favourite piece of music would be Mozart’s Requiem.

Favourite film?  Edward Scissorhands

Most treasured possession?  My car.  I couldn’t be a working storyteller without it.  I travel thousands of miles every year, telling stories all over the country.  I have performed in some extraordinary venues, from a ruined medieval bishop’s palace to a Celtic roundhouse to a chapel in a deserted village.  Some magical places cannot be reached without a car, and I wouldn’t miss them for the world.

When did you start writing?  Around the age of seven.  Stories, poems, film reviews…  Endless diaries and competitions.  I’ve always loved language.

Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?  I didn’t become a storyteller until I moved to Wales, so I would say the most important influence on my work is the landscape.  I write what I see.  That is why Barkbelly is full of woods and mountains, villages and farms!  Most of my inspiration comes from traditional folktales.  Barkbelly was inspired by an Eastern European tale called The Wooden Baby, and the book contains several familiar folk tale motifs – the woodcutter and his wife who can’t have a baby, the hero who helps an animal and is helped in return etc.

Can you give your top 3 tips to becoming a successful author?
1. Immerse yourself in stories.  Read books, listen to good storytellers and watch films.
2. Learn to love your own company.  Writing is a solitary business.
3. Know what you want and plan how to get it.

Favourite memory?  Seeing New York for the first time.  I remember standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building for three hours, watching the sun go down and the lights come on across the city.  That memory is echoed in Barkbelly when Barkbelly sits on the hill and watches the lights come on across the southern peninsula.

Favourite place in the world and why?  My own bed!  Sleep is the ultimate luxury.

What are your hobbies?  Reading, gardening, walking my dogs, feeding the birds and watching films.

If you hadn’t been a writer what do you think you would have been?  A professional storyteller.  That’s what I was before I started writing Barkbelly, and hopefully that’s what I will be till the day I die!  When I am an old woman, I want to be like Jewel:  sitting by a campfire, telling stories under the stars.

'A startling fresh voice in children’s books!  Cat Weatherill is one of our great storytellers, vivacious and inventive.  She brings all her consummate skill to the creation of her first magical hero.'
Former Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo

'Just wonderful.  Cat has brought her vivid storyteller’s gifts straight on to the page – her Barkbelly is a lively, affecting wooden hero, as much a real boy as Pinocchio ever was.  This is a magical and moving debut.
Erica Wagner, Literary Editor, Times