Brian Conaghan was born and raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge but now lives in Dublin. He has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. For many years Brian worked as a teacher and taught in Scotland, Italy and Ireland. His first YA novel for Bloomsbury, When Mr Dog Bites, was shortlisted for the 2015 Carnegie Medal, and his second, The Bombs That Brought Us Together, won the 2016 Costa Children's Book Award. We Come Apart, a verse novel co-authored with Carnegie Medal winner Sarah Crossan, won the 2018 UKLA Book Award, and his fourth novel, The Weight of a Thousand Feathers, won the 2018 Irish Book Award for Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year.

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Moya. The M Word. Whisper it. Conceal it. But, please, never mention it .

Maggie Yates tells her best mate Moya everything.

She tells her about Mum losing her job - how Mum's taken to crying in secret. She even tells her about her foolproof plan to cheer Mum up: find her a fella with cash to splash.

Moya's with her every step of the way. I'll help, she smiles. Though you're surfing a rainbow if you think someone like that exists round here.

But at the back of her mind Maggie knows that Mum's crying is more than sadness. That there are no easy fixes. And that she shouldn't be speaking to Moya any more. Because Moya died months ago.

An unforgettable novel about grief and healing from Costa Children's and Irish Book Award-winner Brian Conaghan

The relationship between Maggie and her mother is the strength of the novel ... Strong stuff, but expertly handled by Conaghan

Conaghan has written yet another sensitive, gripping account of a teen suffering with the unfair pressures that life throws at her.

Shot through with humour and ultimately hope, it's a rewarding read.