Winner of the Older Fiction category of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and of the Branford Boase Award

'An extraordinary dystopian novel... compelling and original' Sunday Times, Book of the Year

'One of the most vivid, tough, bold and gripping books I've read in a long time' Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures

'A dazzling fable of oppression and hope' Financial Times, Books of the Year

Life in Bearmouth is one of hard labour, the sunlit world above the mine a distant memory. Reward will come in the next life with the benevolence of the Mayker.

Newt accepts everything - that is, until the mysterious Devlin arrives. Suddenly, Newt starts to look at Bearmouth with a fresh perspective, questioning the system, and setting in motion a chain of events that could destroy their entire world.

"An extraordinary dystopian novel... compelling and original" - Sunday Times, Book of the Year

"One of the most vivid, tough, bold and gripping books I've read in a long time - and it's utterly original, the kind of story to carry you away" - Katherine Rundell, author of The Good Thieves

"Like nothing I have read before... hand-in-mouth gripping... [Hyder] will become a household name and her books a curriculum staple" - The Times, Children's Book of the Month

"One of the most ambitious and darkly brilliant YA books I've read. It's provocative, tender, claustrophobic and epic. It blew my mind" - Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink & Stars

"Bearmouth is devastating, genre breaking, a book in which the very language changes as the plot progresses. A Jonathan Livingstone Seagull for today. I can't wait to see what Hyder does next, I will go wherever she takes me" - Daisy Johnson

"A dazzling fable of oppression and hope" - Financial Times, Books of the Year

"[Bearmouth] has remained with me since I read it almost a year ago. A strange, uncompromising and innovative novel written in dialect, set in a mine where workers are promised riches in the next life" - Guardian, Best Books of 2019

"There'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" - Guardian

"A mighty impressive piece of work... compelling, powerful and utterly unique" - Brian Conaghan, winner of the Costa Children's Book Award

"An accomplished, intelligent, gripping, and unforgettable debut... once you start reading you will not be able to put it down" - M. G. Leonard, author of Beetle Boy

"A stunningly written, raw, wholly original, darkly beautiful triumph" - Lauren St John, author of The White Giraffe

"My top pick for ages 12 upwards... a remarkable debut... as good as anything by Joan Aiken" - New Statesman

"Liz Hyder is a writer of true courage" - David Almond

"A bold, arresting first book" - Observer

"Excellent... Young teens and upwards will find much to enjoy in this book" - Literary Review

"Exciting, ambitious and completely unpredictable: the kind of book to read in one sitting, quite breathless" - BookTrust

"As vivid, original and distinctive as it gets... shocking and haunting, but moving and uplifting too. I was gripped from the first page - and I've never read a book like it" - Telegraph and Argus

"An ambitious, memorable debut" - Bookseller, Ones to Watch

"A hugely atmospheric read... a page-turner for sure" - John McLay, Artistic Director, Bath Children's Literature Festival

"A great achievement - deeply moving, original, profound" - Chloe Dunbar, Director at Ways with Words and Head of Development at Hera Pictures

"It's going to be huge, and deservedly so. It will stop you in your tracks. It will grip you, bewitch you, haunt you" - Nicholas Pegg

"The most memorable, different and stunning YA book I've read" - Katy Moran

"Darkly brilliant...I was totally immersed" - Gill Lewis, author of Sky Hawk

"A brilliant and thought-provoking piece of writing that you will not be able to put down" - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books