Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021
Daphne is unbearably sad and adrift. She feels the painful loss of her
father acutely and seeks solace both in the security of her local
library and the escape her phone screen provides by blocking out the
world around her. As Daphne tries to make sense of what has happened she
recalls memories of shared times and stories past, and in facing the
darkness she finds a way back from the tangle of fear and confusion, to
feel connected once more with her friends and family.
The Girl Who Became a Tree sees Joseph Coelho deploy a wide variety of
poetic forms with consummate skill in its narration of events. He
seamlessly but searingly weaves together the ancient legend of Daphne,
who was turned into a tree to avoid the attentions of the god Apollo,
and a totally modern tale, mixing real-life and fantasy, in which a
latter-day Daphne seeks her own freedom. This a heart-stoppingly
imaginative story told in poems, at times bleak and even tragic, which
is layered, rich and ultimately a tour de force of poetic skill and
energy.