The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Penguin

So you’ve never cried after reading a really good, moving book? Well, rest assured that this one will sting your eyes. Recently adapted to film, John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars is about Hazel, a girl who has cancer. She meets and falls in love with Augustus and together they try to deal with cancer and love. Simple premise – complex emotions. Beautifully written and funny. And you’ll need a good supply of tissues.

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd
David Fickling Books

Siobhan Dowd’s debut novel takes us back to mid-1980s Ireland. Here, in the small town of Coolbar, lives Shell together with her young siblings. Shell, still grieving for her dead mother and with a useless father, struggles to survive and dreams of one day meeting her prince. Could he be Declan Ronan, the altar bay? Or someone else? This is almost a modern-day Cinderella, complete with a beautiful pink dress.

Henry Tumour by Anthony McGowan
Random House

A boisterous book if ever there was one, Anthony McGowan’s Henry Tumour introduces us to Hector Brunty, a nerdy boy who tends to daydream. He hangs around with other nerds and eats the weird lunches that his mother prepares for him (alfalfa pizza, anyone?). There is, of course, the beautiful love interest: Uma Upshaw. Then Hector starts hearing a voice in his head: it’s his tumour, Henry, urging him to live life.

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
Oxford

Unlike her contemporaries, who are all obsessed with boys, make-up and magazines, Sym is on a different wavelength – she is obsessed with Lawrence Oates, an imaginary presence. Then there’s Uncle Victor, a business partner of Sym’s late father. Part fairy tale and legend and part gritty and real, The White Darkness is an adventure of the quirky kind.