2009 Carnegie Medallist Siobhan Dowd, who died in August 2007, left the beginning of a novel with Walker Books. Now, Guardian and Costa award winning author Patrick Ness has taken Dowd’s preliminary pages and agreed to write a novel from them.

Denise Johnstone-Burt, Publisher at Walker Books, who commissioned the original novel from Siobhan, says: ‘We are delighted that such a fine writer as Patrick should have, as it were, teamed up with Siobhan to craft her initial work into a novel that reflects both her unique imagination and his genius. It is an incredibly exciting fusion of talent that I am certain would have delighted Siobhan were she alive today.’

 In the story, a boy whose mother is ill has to come to terms with her disease, and help arises from a most unexpected source. It’s a dark and funny imaginative journey, circling around the central image of the yew tree. Siobhan Dowd suffered from breast cancer, and the drug Tamoxifen, used in treatment of such cancer, is derived from the yew. 

 Patrick Ness, says: ‘I never met Siobhan when she was alive, but it feels as if I know her through her brilliant books. She was an irreverent and hugely welcoming writer, and I certainly don’t see this as a humourless, po-faced eulogy – I don’t get the feeling Siobhan would have liked that at all. There’s good mischief to be had. I can’t wait to get started.’