Sabriel

Story

Sabriel is descended from a long line of necromancers who rid the world of the living dead. She is at boarding school in the non-magical south when she receives a message of distress from her father. She must journey to the Old Kingdom in the north to assume her inherited role.

Why we chose it

A gripping fantasy adventure for older readers.

Where it came from

Garth Nix is an Australian author who mainly writes fantasy adventure for children and young adults. He says he finds ideas and inspiration in the things around him – sights, sounds, small things that he turns over in his mind until some of them find their way into the beginnings of a story. The inspiration for the necromancer’s bells in Sabriel came from reading Dorothy L Sayers The Nine Taylors and realising that church bells can have names

Where it went next

Sabriel won the Australian Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel and best fantasy novel in 1995. The whole series has sold more than a million copies and introduced Garth Nix to a world-wide audience.

Associated stories

Sabriel is part of the Old Kingdom series for young adults. The others in the series are Lireal, Abhorsen, Clariel and Goldenhand.

In the Keys to the Kingdom series (Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday, Sir Thursday, Lady Friday, Superior Saturday. Lord Sunday) Arthur Penhaligon enters a mysterious house where he must work against time to save his world and the world of the house. Frogkisser is a story for younger readers which mixes fairy tale and fantasy while Shades Children, is a darker young adult science fiction novel set in futuristic urban wasteland.