By Susan Cahill (author)
"Set in an uncanny world between the rain, this remarkable novel explores recovering from loss with a lyrical lightness of touch that has deep emotional resonance."
Paperback In Stock £8.99 £8.09
View All Editions (1)
November 2024 Book of the Month
Alongside exploring loneliness and loss — and being lost — there’s a bounty of bravery and beauty between the pages of Susan Cahill’s The World Between the Rain . Rooted in the raw realities of grief, there’s a dream-like quality to this enchanting story that sees a girl shift from drowning in grief to being flooded by love via a watery world of gods and demons that lies between the rain.
Just before Halloween, on the cusp of her thirteenth birthday, Marina is struggling with losing her dad — a man who’d loved the sea and believed that down below, in the sea, “are all the dreams and wishes of the world”.
While her sister Seri is confident and sociable, “Marina found it difficult to connect with people. They didn’t seem to want to talk about the things she was interested in... portals and magic islands, gods and dreams that lived in the sea”.
Then, on the first anniversary of their dad’s death, Marina’s mum doesn’t wake up. In fact, all the grown-ups in their village in the west of Ireland remain asleep, except for a strange woman named Ursula, who tells them she’s their grandmother. But, Marina muses, “If Ursula was really their grandmother, where had she been all these years?...
Why had Ursula told them a weird story about gods instead of trying to figure out why their mum and so many other people were asleep?”
Feeling overwhelmed, when a voice calls Marina, she runs and runs through the rain and finds herself “between air and water. She was between worlds. She was between the rain”. In this world, Marina meets a boy who warns her, “There’s danger there, danger and stagnation. That’s the worst thing that can happen to you, other than drowning, of course. Stagnation. That means getting stuck”.
Though Marina is stuck in limbo by grief and, for the time being, also stuck in this in-between world, her journey home will flood the souls and lift the hearts of thoughtful readers.
Marina has vanished to a world of gods and demons just when her family need her most.
Read the full description
It's the week before Halloween and Marina is about to turn thirteen. Her father died a year ago. Her mother has strangely fallen asleep and no-one can wake her.She is sent to live with her mysterious grandmother who tells her that that you can enter a strange world between the ever falling rain in the west of Ireland. Marina enters a haunting watery world full of strange creatures, demons, gods and dream makers. Meanwhile, in our world a strange sleeping sickness has taken over.
Will Marina be back in time? Can she survive?
‘A beautiful, poignant and magical read’ Lou Abercrombie
‘This magical, warm, gorgeous, moving book captured my heart completely. I loved it’ - Louise O’Neill, award winning author of Idol
‘Startling, unforgettable’ - Sinéad O’Hart ‘Wild and visionary’- Sam Thompson , Wolfstongue
A beautifully bold story that dances cleverly between real and imagined worlds – it swept me away!’ - Jasbinder Bilan
Susan Cahill grew up by the sea in West Cork, Ireland. She has lived in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and the frozen winterland of Canada, and now calls London her home.
Obsessed with stories from a young age, Susan decided to study them in university, although secretly she always wanted to be a novelist. Becoming an Associate Professor of Literature instead, Susan taught in universities until she couldn’t ignore her own stories clamouring to be told.
Apocalypse now: end of the world stories dominate the longlist for the 2025 Branford Boase award
The LoveReading4Kids Best Children's Books of the Year 2024
the best books for 9-12 year olds · the best books for teenagers
The Stitchwort Curse
The Haunting of Aveline Jones
Marina has vanished to a world of gods and demons just when her family need her most. It's the week before Halloween and Marina is about to turn thirteen.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The World Between the Rain and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
The World Between the Rain features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books of the Month, Debuts of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Fantasy / Magical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Traditional Tales, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
The World Between the Rain was written by Susan Cahill and published by Everything with Words
The World Between the Rain has 352 pages
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
©PTC International Ltd T/A LoveReading is registered in England. Company number: 10193437. VAT number: 270 4538 09. Registered address: 157 Shooters Hill, London, SE18 3HP. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer
The National Year of Reading starts here. Join thousands of families and schools supporting reading for pleasure across the UK.