Review

Review: A Song For Ella Grey

A dazzling new adaptation that's an absolute gift for bright GCSE or A Level students says Matthew Nichols.


A Song For Ella Grey By David Almond; adapted by Zoe Cooper
A Song For Ella Grey By David Almond; adapted by Zoe Cooper

A Song For Ella Grey, David Almond's 2014 novel for young adults, is a genuinely enchanting book. Almond had a huge impact with his previous work Skellig (1998), which was adapted into a similarly popular stage play in 2003. The similarities between Skellig and A Song For Ella Grey are striking. Almond's work is rooted in the North East and the coastal imagery is lyrical and poetic. Sitting alongside this is a commitment to naturalism; the central relationships in the play and the way that the protagonists speak is entirely convincing. Zoe Cooper's 2024 adaptation manages to deftly capture this sense of time and place, with a particular knack for balancing the everyday with the fantastical.

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