Press
In the media
For previews, reviews, interviews, features and more, check out all press coverage by or about Liz below. Liz has written for Metro, The Bookseller, The Irish Times, BookBrunch, Culturefly, Boundless, Teen Librarian and others.
For previews, reviews, interviews, features and more, check out all press coverage by or about Liz below. Liz has written for Metro, The Bookseller, The Irish Times, BookBrunch, Culturefly, Boundless, Teen Librarian and others.
Library Journal | Review of The Gifts
From its riveting opening scene when a young woman sprouts wings, Hyder's genre-blending first adult novel fully engages readers... Short chapters quickly move along in this clever blend of gothic, historical, and fantasy, with just the right touch of melodrama, grounded by well-researched detail. Hyder's novel is sure to be popular with devoted readers of historical fiction, especially those who appreciate the struggles of women to exercise their talents with the same freedom and recognition as men.
Historical Novel Society (USA) | Review of The Gifts
Read articleA fascinating mélange of gothic fiction and magical realism, The Gifts unpacks the bizarre Victorian obsession with angels… Hyder interlaces the stories of four women in gritty 1840s London... in very short chapters, each a miniature jewel of world-building, unique characterization, and dramatic intrigue.
Daily Mirror | Review of The Illusions
Expect mediums, magic and movies… a brisk, heart-warming tale with engaging characters and a splendidly boo-hiss Victorian villain.
My Weekly | Review of The Illusions - Editor's Pick
A fabulous glimpse into the historical murky world of technology, magic and malevolence and the ways women can still triumph. The Illusions is simply not to be missed. I loved it.
Broad Sheep | Review of The Illusions
Original and unexpected… This story of a coming together of strong, talented characters engaged in a fantastical world is told with rational clarity, sins and redemption clearly acknowledged, with a strong pleasing love story unfolding alongside the tense build up to an effective crescendo in a supreme show of magic. I reached the last page with regret and perhaps a tear in my eye.
SFX Magazine | Review of The Illusions
Set in 1896, The Illusions combines magic and movie-making with a charismatic array of characters struggling to make their mark in the world... an engaging tale with a likeable cast you'll definitely root for.
Red Magazine | Review of The Illusions
Read articleA truly immersive, can't-put-it-down read... a kaleidoscope of magic, theatrics, illusion and love.
LoveReading | Review of The Illusions
Read articleCaptivating and fascinating... Deeply dark velvety depths combined with a vibrantly challenging tone ensure a thrilling historical tale set within the world of illusions... a LoveReading Star Book.
Bookpage (US) | Review of The Gifts
Read articlea remarkable, unpredictable tale of ambition, faith and survival, a blend of historical fiction and fantasy from a deft storyteller.
Publishers Weekly (US) | 'Starred' Review of The Gifts
Read articleHyder's remarkable adult debut... skilfully juggles the many threads, never slowing the momentum of her propulsive plot, and by blending realistic and fantastic elements, she perfectly captures the era's uneasy attempts to marry faith and science. This memorable outing has special appeal for fans of fantasy-inflected historicals such as Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent.
Booklist (US) | Review of The Gifts
Readers who like the early-Victorian-era setting and feisty female characters will enjoy this book.
Sunday Express S Magazine | Review of The Gifts
Impressive… A celebration of female solidarity, it's brimful of historical detail and beautifully written.
Writing.ie | Review of The Gifts
Read articleStrong and memorable… compelling right from the opening lines
Lancashire Evening Post | Review of The Gifts
Read articleExtraordinarily original and powerfully feminist… The Gifts is a multi-layered tale of soaring imagination that enthrals from first to last. Uncompromising, unforgettable and unmissable.
Apple Books | Best Books of February featuring The Gifts
Dickensian in both feel and scope… a glorious, evocative read, ripe for a movie adaptation.
Cosmopolitan Magazine | 5 of the Best New Period Drama Page Turners featuring The Gifts
A unique and captivating read that we truly adored.
Sunday Express | S Magazine | The most exciting reads for 2022 featuring The Gifts
If you liked The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, check out Liz Hyder's adult debut The Gifts…
The Meath Chronicle | Review of The Gifts
a clever and evocative story about the plight of women, human and ethereal, in a brutal and unforgiving man's world.
Daily Express | Review of The Gifts
Brimming with historical detail and beautifully written, the soulful prose soars. It's an insightful mysterious read celebrating female friendship and solidarity.
Daily Mirror | Review of The Gifts
Liz Hyder won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for the brilliantly original Bearmouth and The Gifts is just as impressive — an imaginative extraordinary flight of fancy firmly grounded in the grim realities of Victorian England.
The Observer | Review of The Gifts
Read articlea stirring tale of female empowerment, full of vivid imagery and evocative settings... The Gifts' scope is impressive and sure to win Hyder new fans
My Weekly | Review of The Gifts
Read articlea stunning book… I found myself holding my breath at times as the threads of the story drew together so superbly… captivating and thrilling to read… I adored it.
Kirkus Reviews | Fully Booked Podcast | Best Books of the Year featuring Bearmouth (46 mins in)
Hear podcastKirkus (US) | 'Starred' Review
Read articleThis grim and immersive thriller delivers suspense in the dark
Publishers Weekly (US) | Review
Read article…readers should relish Hyder's ambitious, atmospherically rendered commentary on oppressive work situations and child labor.
BookPage (US) | Review
Read articleIn this impressive debut novel, Liz Hyder spins a satisfying web of tension, action and revelation, rooted in a truly unique narrative voice.
School Library Journal (US) | Review
Read articleA unique story...for those who are ready for a fresh narrative, this gripping story of hope, friendship, and revolution will be worth it.
The Guardian | Review: a captivating YA debut
Read articleThere's nothing like a dose of darkness and claustrophobia to give a story intensity and Liz Hyder's excellent fantasy debut has plenty of both... she has gone far beyond her sources, creating a mythic tale with the feel of a fable, one in which the young and vulnerable take on the powerful and mighty... I'll be looking out for her next book, whatever it is.
The Times | Children's Book of the Week
Read article (paywall) plus spoiler alert...This is a book about bravery in extremis by a writer as courageous as they come. Liz Hyder's young adult debut is like nothing I have read before and feels as though it is the work of a far more mature writer who has letters after their name and awards cluttering their mantelpiece... Hyder, a former arts PR, should and, I'm sure will, become a household name and her books a curriculum staple.
Literary Review | Bearmouth by Liz Hyder
Read articleLiz Hyder's excellent debut novel... presents a Morlockian world in which thousands of men work day and night deep within mines and are controlled by wicked, money-grubbing masters who invoke the divine Mayker to keep them in line... Young teens and upwards will find much to enjoy in this book, which has echoes of Sally Gardner's dystopian Maggot Moon in its characters' desire for the destruction of tyranny.
Wales Arts Review | Bearmouth by Liz Hyder
Read articleHyder strikes the perfect balance in this realistically gritty yet highly intelligent and nuanced debut.
BookTrust | Review
Read articleThis truly unique and breathtakingly brilliant debut will blow your socks off... The story is exciting, ambitious and completely unpredictable: the kind of book to read in one sitting, quite breathless. Liz Hyder is a really exciting new voice in children's literature.
South China Morning Post | Review
Read articlea boldly original novel, with a totally unique setting, and equally fresh narrating protagonist. Bearmouth is ambitious, nail-bitingly thrilling and courageous.
Telegraph and Argus | Bearmouth Review
Read articleas vivid, original and distinctive as it gets... I was gripped from the first page - and I've never read a book like it. This is a compelling, beautifully written novel that brings history alive, for readers of all ages.
LoveReading4Kids | Review
Read articleCourage, rebellion and revolution run rampant in this boldly accomplished debut... Told in narrator Newt's distinctive phonetic English, this dark debut dazzles with originality and delivers a potent case for combatting inequality... Emotionally engaging, this searingly original novel about standing up to abuses of power and fighting for freedom is radiant with story-telling excellence.
Reading Zone | Review
Read article5⭐. Bearmouth is a sophisticated, intelligent and original young adult read that needs to be put into the hands of your avid readers
The Bookseller | One to Watch, June 2019
Set in an intense, darkly claustrophobic subterranean world and told in a distinctive first-person dialect, Hyder takes on big themes of oppression, justice and resistance in an ambitious, memorable debut.
The Bookseller | Pushkin Children's nabs new YA novel from the author of Bearmouth
Read articleThe Bookseller | Hyder's debut adult novel, The Gifts, goes to Manilla Press in two book deal
Read articleBranford Boase | Bearmouth wins the Branford Boase Award
Read articlea tour de force of a page turner with an intricate and stylised plot… original and unforgettable
UKLA Book Awards 2021 - Bearmouth shortlisted for 11-14+ category
Read articleThe Bookseller | Bearmouth wins the Branford Boase Award
Read articleThe Guardian | Bearmouth winner of the Older Readers Category, Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2020
Read article(a) powerfully atmospheric story ... with an addictive narrative
The Bookseller | Bearmouth winner of the Older Readers Category, Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2020
Read articleThe Bookseller | Bearmouth shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2020
Read articleThe Bookseller | Bearmouth shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2020
Read articleBookTrust | Bearmouth shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2020
Read articleThe Bookseller | Hyder's debut goes to Norton in US in three-way auction
Pushkin Press has sold YA debut Bearmouth by Liz Hyder to Norton in the US following a three-way bidding war with film rights also sold.
The Bookseller | Binocular options Hyder's dystopian debut
Film rights to Bearmouth sold to Binocular Productions.
The Bookseller | Liz Hyder's dystopian debut pre-empted by Pushkin
Pushkin Children's Books has acquired world rights to Bearmouth, a “resoundingly original book”, by debut author Liz Hyder.
LoveReading | The LoveReading Books of the Year 2022
See listKirkus Reviews | 10 Books You'll want to Re-Read
See listKirkus Reviews | Best YA Books of 2020 (US)
See listKirkus Reviews | Interview with Liz on writing a Marmite book (US)
Read articleWales Arts Review | The Joy Of Books interview with Liz Hyder
Read articleBooktrust | Great Books Guide 2020 featuring Bearmouth
See listAmazon.com | Best Young Adult Books of the Month
See listKirkus Reviews | 16 Best Books to read in September
See listThe Waterstones Podcast | The Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2020
Liz and the other winners talk about the books that got them reading as kids.
Waterstones | Shelfie (YouTube) on current recommended reads
Watch videoThe Times | The 50 best books of 2019
Read articleIt's hard to believe that this exceptional young adult novel is a debut... A Christmas Carol for 2019.
Financial Times | Best books of 2019: Young adult
Read articleA dazzling fable of oppression and hope.
New Statesman | The best new children's books for Christmas
Read articleMy top pick for ages 12 upwards is Bearmouth, a remarkable debut by Liz Hyder... as good as anything by Joan Aiken.
Observer | Books interview | Liz Hyder: 'I feel like I'm in a weird cheese dream'
Read articleDaily Mail | Children's books of the year
Read articleThis debut is very dark — literally, because the protagonist has been enslaved in a coal mine since the age of four... (a) very impressive first outing.
Guardian | Books of the year as chosen by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Read articleA strange, uncompromising and innovative novel written in dialect... It put me in mind of Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory with its unnerving otherworldliness, but is its own thing entirely.
Sunday Times | Best children's books of the year 2019
Read articleThe young adult (YA) debut that caused the most excitement was Liz Hyder's Bearmouth, an extraordinary dystopian novel written in the misspelt voice of a young narrator who lives and works in a deep mine... dark, but also compelling and original.
BBC Radio 4 Extra | Telling Tales, 2019 in books
A look back at some of the interesting books and stories from the year, with the help of Joe Haddow. Liz talks about her Young Adult debut, selected as The Times' Children's Book of the Year 2019.
South China Morning Post | 5 Books about freedom to get you through isolation
Read articleThe debut novel by Liz Hyder is an unforgettable tale of courage.
Waterstones | Kiran Millwood Hargrave Recommends Her Top 5 Young Adult Books of 2019
Read articleA virtuoso debut... An astonishing feat of world building and imagination, it reminded me of The Wasp Factory, but is its own thing entirely.
Bustle | 7 Young Adult Books Out In Autumn 2019 In The UK That'll Keep You Busy Until Christmas
Read articleBearmouth demonstrates what happens when you call everything you know into question.
Culturefly | 8 new books to read in September
Read articlea bold and unique YA story unlike anything else you'll read all year
Hive.co.uk | Rising Writers
Read articleStandard Issue podcast | Reproductive rights, coal mining and Mars
Mick chats with author Liz Hyder about her brilliant debut fiction, Bearmouth, kids down coal mines, women with wings and that time a surgery had a 300 per cent mortality rate.
LoveReading4Kids | Debuts of the Month
These debuts - written by authors we believe are destined to have a great future as children's writers - have struck a real chord with us.
The School Reading List | Autumn 2019 — best new children's and YA books — our picks.
Read articleBookTrust | Authored piece
On winning the Branford Boase and writing a 'Marmite' book
Winning the Branford Boase for Bearmouth feels both glorious and surprising. But it feels like something else too, it feels like vindication for my compulsion to make up stories and scribble them down.
Metro | Books: Children lost to the mines
I see stories everywhere now, waiting to be told
Irish Times | Mining the horrors of children at work in the Victorian era
I hope my novel helps readers discover their own inner voices and not be afraid of dialect
CultureFly | Authored piece
Liz Hyder on the inspiration behind her debut novel Bearmouth.
Ideas really can come from anywhere.
Writing Ireland | Authored piece
On Language and Dialect: Bearmouth by Liz Hyder.
Languages are living things, we should nurture them and accept that they shift and ebb over time.
Boundless | Authored piece
Liz Hyder on how Victorian poverty is not a thing of the past.
Whole families braved the dark for hours on end to earn a handful of coins.
The Bookseller | Why are we squeezing creative writing out of schools?
The publishing industry cannot and should not have to make up for the defects in the current education system but it could certainly be more vocal about the problems of sidelining creativity
BookBrunch | Mining for stories
Stories are hidden everywhere, in the buildings that surround us, in the people we walk past in the street, and even in the ground beneath our feet.
Pushkin Press | Welcome... to Bearmouth
We asked Liz to tell us a bit about how the story and the character of Newt came to her, and what she found out along the way. So grab your candles, we're going down the mine...
JustImagine | Blog on the Branford Boase shortlist 2020
Read articleThe Book Slut | Review
Read articleThe realities of Bearmouth might be grim, and the exploitation horrific, but the novel is, more than anything, a reminder that even a single spark of hope can be enough to light a wildfire — or at the very least, a stick of dynamite.
Live and Deadly | Review
Read articleBearmouth is a spell-binding, haunting and original novel, deserving of a wide readership. It is a tale of friendship, of social injustice and above all it is both a raw and an inspiring tale of how just one voice lifted above the noise can be the catalyst for change. Unmissable.
Bellis Does Books | Autumn Overview — Teen/YA
Read articleA brilliantly bleak but hopeful read, great use of language and dialogue...
Serendipity Reviews | Review
Read articledystopian genius... This book is utterly outstanding and stays with you long after you read it... ambitious in style, extremely dark in nature, but overflowing in excellence. I'd be shocked if this book didn't win a few awards in the near future. An outstanding talented debut!
Serendipity Reviews | Q&A with Liz Hyder
Read article...challenging and deeply thought-provoking read, as well as a truly gripping adventure story.
Northern Plunder | Review
Read articleA fantastically gripping story. Truly I look forward to Hyder's future work... a very powerful read.
The Reader's Corner | Review
Read articlea fantastic debut YA... compelling, engrossing and just one of those books that when you pick up you won't be able to put it down... It is unique and full of characters you will adore. It is gripping, daunting and creepy and just so much more... one of my favourites of the year.
Teen Librarian | Review
Review, plus the author on the importance of rebellion and asking questions.
Read articlegripping, hopeful, and thought provoking
The BookNook | Review
Read articleAtmospheric, rich and breathless, this is an immersive book that will leave you feeling empowered and emboldened. A fantastic debut.
Askews and Holts' newsletter | Review
This is one of the best debut novels I've read... I was completely hooked... An adventure story unlike any you will have read before, you will find yourself rooting for the characters and biting your nails in anticipation.
Guts of a Beggar | Review
Read articleso absorbing, so powerful, so spellbindingly good...It heralds the arrival of a striking new voice in English fiction…[a] dark, compelling, wonderful, world-class novel.
Notes And A Novel | Review
Read articleHyder's voice is so unique. This is experimental fiction at its absolute finest... I suspect that #Bearmouth will be talked about for years to come and Liz Hyder will become synonymous with experimental fiction... [it] may just be my number one book for 2019
Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books | Review
Read articleA brilliant and thought-provoking piece of writing that you will not be able to put down.
M. G. Leonard | M.G. Leonard's blog
Read articleIt is both tender, brutal, and at times truly terrifying. You will not read another book like Bearmouth and once you start reading you will not be able to put it down.