War of the Wind

A Financial Times Book of the Year

Nominated for The Yoto Carnegies Medal for Writing 2024

Shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Prize in 2023

An award-winning climate fiction novel that explores unlikely friendships as a group of children with disabilities find themselves at the heart of an eco-mystery.

On a remote Scottish island, 14-year-old Max’s life is changed forever when he loses his hearing in a boating accident. He has to navigate a new silent world alone—even his parents don’t understand that wearing a hearing aid doesn’t mean he can hear clearly. On top of that, he’s placed in a special educational needs class surrounded by kids he once picked on.

When people start acting strangely and Max’s hearing aid picks up odd sounds from a new wind farm off the coast, he suspects a sinister scientist is using wind turbines to experiment on the islanders. Could being different be an advantage? Max enlists the help of his classmates to shut down the government’s secret test before it spins out of control…