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The Closest Thing to Flying

The Closest Thing to Flying

Top pick
Published: 7 Feb 2019

Paperback / softback, 240 pages

Recommended for age 9+ and 11+

By Gill Lewis

Published by Oxford University Press

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£5.90
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RRP £7.99
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This title features in our Reading Gladiators™ selection.

Present day: Semira doesn't know where to call home. She and her mother came to England when she was four years old, brought across the desert and the sea by a man who has complete control. Always moving on, always afraid of being caught, she longs for freedom.

1891: Hen knows exactly where to call home. Her stifling mother makes sure of that. But her Aunt Kitty is opening her eyes to a whole new world.


A world of animal rights, and votes for women, and riding bicycles! Trapped in a life of behaving like a lady, she longs for freedom. When Semira discovers Hen's diary, she finds the inspiration to be brave, to fight for her place in the world, and maybe even to uncover the secrets of her own past.

Read our review on justimagine.co.uk

Tagged cycling , migration , top pick , women's rights and women's suffrage