num_pages: 320
description: Ireland 1984.After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, who is charming, eloquent, and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality—it will move the hearts of any who read it.
language: English
title: A Swift Pure Cry
titlecomplete: A Swift Pure Cry
genres: Historical, Young Adult, Irish Literature, Coming Of Age, Teen, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Realistic Fiction
ratings_count: 2643
places: Coolbar
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
category: Jugendbuch, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Branford Boase Award, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Waterstones Children's Book Prize
publisher: David Fickling Books