Ghost Hawk
US edition
Simon & Schuster
Buy this book
from your local bookseller or
online from:
Barnes & Noble
Bookshop.org
(local booksellers)
e-book
Audio CD/mp3
Simon Audio
read by Jim Dale
Ghost Hawk
Random House UK
e-book UK
Ghost Hawk

Watch this conversation between Jim Dale and Susan about creating the audio book of Ghost Hawk.

Listen to this podcast of Susan reading from Ghost Hawk and talking with The Guardian's Michelle Pauli.

“Although we talk of learning from history, we do not learn. And even a ghost cannot explain to the living why this should be so.”

In the winter of his eleventh year, Little Hawk goes deep into the forest, where he must endure a three month test of solitude and survival, which will turn him into a man.

But outside the woods, the world is changing. English settlers are landing on the shores of the New World, and tensions between native tribes and the invaders are rising.

Little Hawk’s fate becomes irreversibly entwined with that of John, a young English boy who dares to question intolerance.

He is witness to a secret murder—will he now be witness to bloodshed between nations?

FROM THE AUTHOR
“The background research for Ghost Hawk took three years, and was fascinating. For anyone who would like to read more about the historical period in which my story is set, here is a list of some of the books I read.” read more
AWARDS AND HONORS
Carnegie Medal (UK) shortlist 2014
California Young Reader Medal Nominee 2015
Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2014
Time Magazine
May 2013: Summer Arts Preview
New York Times Children's Middle Grade Bestseller (9/13)
Publishers Weekly Best Books 2013
Junior Library Guild Selection (Fall 2013)
Connections Selection 2013
Parents’ Choice Award 2013
Children's Bookseller's Choice, The Bookseller, UK (12/13)
ABC Best Books for Children list 2013 (ABA)
PRAISE FOR GHOST HAWK
Ghost Hawk is the work of a writer with great imaginative power and long-practised narrative skill. I was swept up in the story, shocked, moved, and  enthralled—and completely convinced by the historical background. I haven't read anything better for a long time.
As I savored the first few chapters, I became aware of how rarely, in recent years, I have read such an excellent novel in terms of literary craft, all in the service of story.
[A] well-researched and elegant historical fantasy. … Cooper impressively conveys the barriers, both cultural and linguistic, that divided natives and settlers, sometimes with horrifying results. [She] demonstrates, as Little Hawk says, “Change is made by the voice of one person at a time.”
Cooper has written a richly plotted, lyrical, and near-epic novel filled with wonderfully realized and sympathetic characters. In sum, this is simply an unforgettable reading experience.
A powerful and memorable novel.
[A] sensitive portrayal of an unusual friendship.
A beautifully written story.
This book is nothing short of a masterpiece. The book has an undeniably strong moral message—the requirement for good men to stand up and do something even if outnumbered and with little hope of success. This is one of the most moving and most memorable books I have ever read.

Susan Cooper has asked the ghosts of our shared history to sing. And when she asks, they always do.

Ghost Hawk is a treasure…. Beautifully written, vivid with its manifest love for the land, it is a story of suffering and survival, both tragic and heroic.
Moving and long lasting, this is rich storytelling, and is probably Susan Cooper's finest work so far, which is something coming from the writer who brought us The Dark is Rising….
back to YA Novels