Alis by Naomi Rich

Faced with the prospect of being forced by her parents to marry a forty year old priest whom she does not love, young Alis chooses instead to escape the strict surroundings of her village and brave the outside world. In order to do this though, she must also leave behind Luke – a boy of her own age, with whom she is falling in love.

Life outside her own community may be less oppressively judgmental and controlling, but Alis faces other trials in the mercenary city, where one must toughen up to survive. Despite being reunited with her long-lost runaway brother, life is hard and eventually she is forced to return home and accept her fate. Thinking Luke dead, she submits and marries the priest - but their union is short-lived.

An enthralling love story in the Romeo and Juliet tradition, with some unexpected twists and turns – and a definite resonance with contemporary religious extremism issues - Alis is an impressively memorable debut.

Sunshine for the Sunless by Gareth Thompson

Much of Andy's childhood has been haunted by the memory of a terrible event he once witnessed in which a father and son drowned in quicksand on the beach near his home. Blaming himself for not being able to help them, the shadow of this harrowing experience hangs over him as he struggles to move on. His only escape is in daffodils, a passion he has inherited from his grandfather - also the most reliable male role model in his life. Then the beautiful Angie comes into his life, taking an unexpected interest in Andy's unusual horticultural hobby, she also becomes the object of his desire, as the rumblings of first love begin to stir.

Set in a rough industrial town in the Lake District, the title refers to a line of poetry from one of the area's most notable exports, William Wordsworth. And very much in the spirit of Wordsworth, the landscape is passionately and intricately evoked, setting an atmospheric backdrop to what turns out to be a compelling and moving rites of passage. The unusual slant of daffodil obsession gives a familiar story a refreshing twist, and provides some genuinely interesting facts along the way.

Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson

A deeply moving and provocative novel that boldly confronts attitudes to disability from the perspective of a sixteen year old with cerebral palsy. Set in a 1960s holiday camp for what would now be called 'special needs' children, it is the antithesis of the politically correct 'issue-based' book.

Jean goes to Camp Courage to please her parents, who have always tried to give her as normal a life as possible, and are keen to foster her independence. During Jean's stay she meets Sara - a veteran of what she herself calls 'Crip Camp' - and an outspoken rebel against the patronising influence of the camp leaders, and other 'normal' people in general.

Refusing to submit to society's expectations of her, Sara opens Jean's eyes to a whole new way of thinking about her disability. Based on the author's own experience of growing up as an invalid in even less liberated times, Accidents of Nature is not always a comfortable read, but all the better for that.

Lifegame by Alison Allen-Gray

Alison Allen-Gray’s first novel Unique, published back in 2004, received widespread praise and several well-deserved award nominations, including a spot on the coveted Booktrust Teenage Prize shortlist. An edgy and provocative thriller, it tackled the controversial theme of cloning from the perspective of a boy who finds out he is a clone.

Five years later, Gray returns with another hard-hitting, action-packed teenage novel that lives up to, and even exceeds her excellent debut. In the tradition of Brave New World and 1984, Lifegame imagines a future dystopia in which people are constantly under surveillance, can no longer write with a pen and paper, and live in a strictly controlled class structure.

The book begins on a cloistered island that is believed by its inhabitants to be the last bastion of humanity following some kind of global chemical disaster. Fella is an orphan in this isolated world and knows nothing about his family other than that his mother supposedly died in a car crash when he was a baby. Along with his best friend Grebe, Fella begins to question the stories he’s been fed by the Powers that Be and with the help of a journal left by his mother, starts to unravel the truth about his background - which in turn leads to some shocking revelations about the island.

Utterly compelling in terms of both subject matter and plot, Lifegame poses some uncompromising political and philosophical questions about the nature of society, the possibilities of science, and how the two can dramatically impact on each other. The development of the two (very likable) central characters - from subjugated, frustrated teenagers to revolutionary young adults, and the gradual blossoming of the romance that accompanies it - is truly enchanting. Unputdownable.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

Set in an outwardly innocuous and mostly uneventful German backwater town, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is an atmospheric, slow-building thriller in which nothing is ever what it seems. Peppered with German phrases and colloquialisms that conjure the spirit of the setting and its people, Helen Grant’s portrayal of place is cleverly and vividly executed.

A sometimes uncomfortably close community of curtain-twitchers and busybodies, everyone knows everyone else’s business in Bad Münsereifel, or thinks they do. For Pia, the schoolgirl infamous and ostracised for having an exploding grandmother, the unfolding of a sinister murder-mystery becomes a welcome obsession on which to focus her frustrated energies. She and the other school pariah, ‘Stink Stefan’ - thrown together by default - team up to try and figure out what is happening to the girls of the town, who keep disappearing.

Apart from said disapperances, the odd allusion to dubious incidents of the past, and some imparting of spooky local folklore, the first three-quarters of the book ticks along gently without much actual hair-raising. It’s not until right at the end that the pace really picks up and all of a sudden explodes into a startlingly chilling climax, packed with twists and turns and some genuinely stomach-churning moments. Gripping stuff, but not for the faint hearted.

Tessa In Love by Kate Le Vann

A realistically imagined and elegantly evoked ‘first love’ story with an unexpectedly tragic twist, Tessa in Love will pull at the heartstrings of anyone who is experiencing, or has experienced, what it’s like to be sixteen and in love.

Tessa has always been in the shadow of her prettier, more gregarious best friend Matty, never considering herself to be girlfriend material - until she meets Wolfie, a passionate eco-warrior with who she bonds over a fight to save the local woods. Wolfie opens Tessa’s mind to a new way of looking at the world, and as romance blossoms, she begins to come out of herself and grow in confidence. Watching the courtship unfold while its lovers evolve and flourish in each other’s company, one is utterly swept up in the intensity of that blissfully tortuous (and oh so familiar) process.

Then, just as the early uncertainties in the relationship start to give way to comfort and security, tragedy strikes. Whilst volunteering in South America, Wolfie is suddenly and shockingly killed, leaving Tessa devastated. Whilst deeply heartbreaking for both reader and protagonist, this unforseen conclusion is also somehow strangely uplifting. Unlike most teen romances, which invariably disintigrate into bitterness or fade to indifference, this one remains forever preserved as a shiningly perfect moment, untainted by the passage of time and inevitability. Profoundly moving and utterly absorbing, this is the best ‘girlie’ book I’ve read in a long time.

Burn My Heart by Beverley Naidoo

A hard-hitting political story that dramatically juxtaposes the contrasting lives of two young boys living in Kenya during the 1950s. Celebrated for her uncompromising treatment of racist issues, Naidoo once again pulls no punches as she explores and exposes the harsh realities of African colonial politics. Told from the point of view of two very different families on either side of the struggle for colonial freedom, Burn My Heart presents an enlightening, sometimes shocking, look at this often overlooked conflict.

Mathew is the son of a wealthy farming family of settlers (called 'wazungu' by the natives), and is friends with a native servant boy, Mugo, who works in his family's kitchen. At first oblivious to the political crisis in their midst, the boys' friendship is gradually fractured by the spiralling unrest.

Through a series of distressing events, each boy has his eyes opened to a complicated, frightening world of oppression and racism, that causes them to re-evaluate their respective beliefs and allegiances. A dark and harrowing ending is followed by a moving and informative afterword, reinforcing the severity of the crisis, and the fact that its repercussions are still felt today.

Soul Eater by Michelle Paver

The third title in this much-hyped prehistoric adventure series plunges its protagonists sharply into turmoil once again, as the hero Torak's beloved Wolf is kidnapped in a dramatic opening scene, by a ring of villains with an evil plan to take over the forest. Torak is understandably distraught at this turn of events, and sets out to rescue his pack brother, with little idea as to the scale of his undertaking. He and Renn must venture into the far north, an unfamiliar world of ice and other unknown dangers. Helped by the White Fox clan, they endure horrific ordeals to find Wolf, soon realising that saving him is the least of their worries, when unimaginable evil is now at large.

Into her carefully crafted narrative, Paver weaves subtle character development, particularly with Wolf, who is changing from playful cub to world-wise warrior. As they see each other through numerous close-shaves, Torak and Renn's bond grows deeper, and they too are growing up fast. Following a frantically tense climax in which the looming evil is for the time being forestalled, Torak mulls the future, tainted by his dark experiences. Elegantly written and imaginatively executed, Soul Eater is darker and edgier than the first two books, stepping up the pace of this excellent series, and promising plenty more adventure to come.

Seeker by William Nicholson

Nicholson’s latest offering, the first instalment of a new trilogy, took a while to get under my skin. The sleek prose at least made for an easy read, but I didn’t start to really care about the characters, or their respective quests, until quite a way into the action. The three young protagonists from different backgrounds are introduced separately to the reader, before their paths cross and they discover a mutual ambition. Motivated by different circumstances, they all long to become a Noma - a type of revered, mystical warrior - but must first prove they are worthy. The ensuing adventure sees the brave but naïve young adults have their individual beliefs and ideals challenged and sometimes crushed as they come up against the harsh realities of the outside world.

The setting is fantasy, but the modern day metaphors are somewhat transparent – themes of suicide bombers, public execution, religious intolerance, blind faith and unjust social hierarchies are all explored. The balance of good and evil is more ambiguous however – the separate communities are each convinced of the supremacy their own beliefs, and the reader is invited to judge for themselves. If you can get past a slowish start and avoid getting bogged down by these potential moral dilemmas, you will find yourself immersed in a cracking fantasy adventure with well-painted and ultimately likeable characters.