Guest post written by This Boy I Hardly Know author Lisa Heathfield
Lisa is sure she was born holding a book and hasn’t stopped reading since. She wrote her first book when she was nine (a very short one) never dreaming that she could one day be published. This Boy I Hardly Know is her sixth novel, and like all the others was written at her kitchen table in the beautiful chaos of her home. When not writing, Lisa teaches teens who aren’t in school for a variety of reasons.
About This Boy I Hardly Know (published on 7th May): A coming-of-age story, filled with love, hope and rage, shining a light on our broken care system. You can read the first three chapters here.
It’s obvious to me why books are so brilliant – the list is endless. You can be racing through space one moment and swimming in the depths of the ocean the next. In the time it takes to turn a page you’ll be hiding from (and winning against) zombies, or going on a date with the person of your dreams. Books make you laugh, cry, fill you with stars, or anger. They make you step out of your own life and experience the lives of others.
Which is why books about looked-after children are so important. It makes us see beyond the labels placed on them and try to really understand the challenges they face every day, how it must feel to be moved again and again to live in strangers’ homes. These are brave, brilliant, resilient people who you’ll be lucky to know. The novels below give you an insight into their lives.
This Boy I Hardly Know by Lisa Heathfield
I loved every moment of writing this book, which was inspired by the children I met when teaching in a children’s home. Dusty adores her younger sister, holding her hand tight through every new foster placement. When they’re brutally separated, Dusty’s world shatters. It’s a boy in the residential home who helps her piece it back together. Guitar playing Cooper, with poetry written along his arms and a soul that makes her feel safe. Together they decide to run…
Home Girl by Alex Wheatle
The world lost one of its great writers when the wonderful Alex Wheatle died in 2025. He left a legacy of incredible books and Home Girl is among them. It follows Naomi, forced to move from one foster carer to another, until Tony and Colleen open their home and hearts to her. Alex’s book brilliantly shows the fragile child behind the tough façade, the mask that so many kids in care have to wear just to survive.
How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow
This story shows how frighteningly easy it is for life to spin from your grasp. We see Tiger finding herself in the care system, after the devastating loss of her mum. We’re beside her every step as she claws back control. It’s a story of strength, of sisterhood, of friendship. Of knowing there’s darkness in every life, but always there’s light.
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt
This is a small book, but the emotional punch it throws goes way beyond its size. Fourteen-year-old Joseph lives with his brilliant foster carers and their son, Jack, but nothing can make up for the pain he feels at being separated from his baby daughter. It’s about love in so many forms. About how society fails children in need. And the kindness of strangers. This book is up there with my favourites of all time – even if it did crush my heart.
Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald
This debut won the Branford Boase Award and the Carnegie Medal. A brilliantly written coming-of-age story, with its roots in a working-class community in Scotland, it follows Finlay and Banjo navigating their lives beyond the care system. We get glimpses of their past together in a children’s home – and we’re willing them to find each other again.
Being Billy by Phil Earle
This book brilliantly shows us that challenging behaviour in teens doesn’t come out of thin air. Billy has been in care for eight years and the reader really gets to understand why he acts out the way he does. Billy is funny, angry, wise and determined to keep his siblings together in this vital book that builds empathy by the bucketload. It reminds us that there are children like Billy in every school in the country, crying out for love and safety.
