When the Stammer Came to Stay

Ages 5 to 8, Grades K to 3

The author of Hamnet explores sisterly affection and what it means to rediscover your voice—and yourself—in this illustrated storybook.

This is the tale of two sisters . . .

who had no idea that everything was about to change.

Quiet Bea keeps her shoes polished, folds her clothes every night, and alphabetizes her books. Her rambunctious sister Min wears torn trousers and wades into ponds to collect frogspawn. Above all, Min is a storyteller who loves to chat with everyone. But one day she chokes, and the words forming in her mouth never make it out. Words suddenly feel dangerous, unwieldly. Min is no longer herself—not with some strange creature stealing her words, a creature not even her sister can see. But that doesn’t matter, because Bea sees Min. Award-winning author Maggie O’Farrell pulls from her own experiences with stammering to create a realistic portrait of shaken self-confidence and how sharing painful situations with a loved one can make all the difference. Featuring expressive and detailed illustrations from Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, this book will speak to readers who have ever lost a part of themselves—and found something new in return.

About the Author

Maggie O’Farrell is the award-winning Irish-British author of Where Snow Angels Go, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, and many internationally acclaimed adult novels, including The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet, which won the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. She lives in Edinburgh.

Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini studied fine art in Milan and moved to London to study photography. She is the illustrator of Where Snow Angels Go by Maggie O’Farrell. She lives in London.