Beginners Pluck

Sarah grew up in Dublin, but moved to England when she was six. She loved school, and after an extensive university education she worked as an English teacher for ten years. “I loved promoting creative writing in the classroom.”

She lives in America, and writes full time. She loves reading too. “I read a mixture of adult and young adult fiction. I’m in a book club and that helps me to read beyond my comfort zone.”

Who is Sarah Crossan?

Date/place of birth: January 4, 1978/London. “My parents were on an extended holiday.”

Education: Our Lady’s Convent High School, Hackney, London. “I loved the nuns.” Warwick University for her BA in philosophy and literature and her MA in writing. Cambridge University for PGCE in English and drama.

Home: Opposite Manhattan in New Jersey, USA.

Family: Husband, Andreas.

The Day Job: Writing young adult novels.

Hobbies: Reading, yoga, travel.

Favourite Writers: Philip Pullman, Virginia Woolf.

Second Novel: Breath. Due out in autumn, 2012. “It’s a dystopian young adult book.”

Top Writing Tip: “If you want to be a writer, it’s important to sit down and write. Ideas swimming around in one’s head aren’t enough.”

Web: www.sarahcrossan.com

Twitter: @SarahCrossan

THE DEBUT

The Weight of Water; Bloomsbury; £8.99

Kasienka and her mother arrive in England in search of her father. Life is lonely for her. Her mother is heartbroken, and she’s alienated at school. There’s one thing that might save her; and that’s swimming.

This is a startlingly original coming-of-age novel, tackling the problems facing immigrants. Through Kasienka, we learn how quiet courage prevails.

“I was sad when I started writing the novel, and writing was a way to express this. I was an immigrant twice, once when I moved to England from Ireland, and again when I moved from England to the USA, and it’s hard, whatever the circumstances.”

The Verdict: This poetic novel is sheer perfection — for adults as well as for teenagers. Being in Kasienka’s head, the reader gains a new understanding of how alienation feels. I loved it.

— Interviewed by Sue Leonard