Hana Tooke
The Unadoptables
“Effortlessly merging the gothic and the ghastly with the eccentric and the absurd.”
Penguin, 2021
The amazing humour and world-building of Nevermoor meets the wisdom and warmth of Rooftoppers in this most un-ordinary adventure about five amazing children . . .
The remarkable. The extraordinary. The brave.
Way back in the autumn of 1880, five babies are discovered at the Little Tulip Orphanage in most unusual circumstances. Those babies are Lotta, Egbert, Fenna, Sem and Milou.
The vile matron calls the children 'the unadoptables' but this talented gang of best friends know that their individuality is what makes them so special - and so determined to stay together.
When a sinister gentleman tries to get them in his clutches, the children make a daring escape across the frozen canals of Amsterdam, embarking on an adventure packed with pirate ships and puppets. But is their real home - and their real family - already closer than they realize?
Longlisted for the Branford Boase Award (2021)
Shortlisted for Bath Children's Novel Award (2018), Andersen Prize (Italy, 2021), and Iris Award (International Schools, 2021)
Winner of the Oxfordshire Book Award (2021, junior)
No.1 bestselling children's hardback debut (UK, 2020)
The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
The Guardian's Children's Book of the Month
Hana Tooke grew up on a polder near Amsterdam, in a house filled with peculiar clocks and a head filled with a peculiar imagination. She's been a singer, a teacher, and even a mad-scientist, but these days she spends her days writing stories, sculpting puppets, and collecting curiosities. She lives in Bath in England with two humans, a cat, and a skeleton marionette.
