Tilda by Sue Whiting
About Sue Whiting
Sue Whiting is a children’s and young adult author and editor who lives and works in a small coastal village south of Sydney. She has written numerous books in a variety of genres: fiction and nonfiction, picture books through to YA, including the best-selling The Firefighters and Missing, the award-winning A Swim in the Sea and the CBCA Notable Books, Get a Grip Cooper Jones, Platypus and Beware the Deep Dark Forest. Sue was Publishing Manager and Senior Commissioning Editor at Walker Books Australia for many years, before leaving in 2016 to concentrate on her writing and to work as a freelance editor, writing coach and mentor. A former primary school teacher with a special interest in literacy education and children’s literature, Sue is a highly experienced speaker who loves sharing her passion for story and storytelling, reading and writing with people of all ages. For further information, visit:
Quote from Sue Whiting
“I am absolutely thrilled to be longlisted for the HNSA’s ARA Historical Novel Prize. I wrote Tilda to explore the challenges Australians faced in the early 1900s, so I could better understand my grandmother’s unfortunate childhood: motherless at two, abandoned by her father and ultimately forced into institutional care. Set in Adelaide in 1901, Tilda is a story of hope, determination and resilience that allows young readers to step back in time and walk with a feisty young girl intent on never giving up, despite her dire circumstances. Thank you HNSA and ARA for shining a spotlight on the importance of historical fiction.”
About Tilda
L.M. Montgomery meets Ruth Park in a story of friendship, hope and resilience.
You have a big heart. And people blessed with a big heart have a choice to make. Do they fill that heart with light and love or do they fill it with darkness and hate? This is your choice to make, Matilda. Make it wisely.
Tilda Moss refuses to believe her papa has abandoned her and left her, alone and orphaned, in Brushwood Convent and Home for Girls, no matter what Sister Agatha says. A promise is a promise and Papa promised he would be back for her as soon as he returns from the war.
But Tilda is convinced the dreadful Sister Agatha is out to get her. Why is she so hateful all the time? She insists that Matilda declare to all at the convent that she is an orphan. She is not an orphan and she will never say it! Something is amiss and Tilda and her best friend Annie need to find out what before it is too late.
