Clonakilty author Susan Cahill, has been nominated for the Carnegies, the UK’s oldest and most prestigious book award for children’s writing.

Her debut novel The World Between the Rain is on the list for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, which is awarded to a book written in English for children and young people that sparks an outstanding reading experience.

Cahill is one of a number of Irish writers and illustrators nominated for the prize. The novel, illustrated by Holly Ovenden, is a portal fantasy set in rain-soaked West Cork.

When 13-year-old Marina accidentally falls between the raindrops into the watery world of Ishka on the first anniversary of her father’s sudden death, she is thrown into a land of shadows, dream weavers, and forgotten gods, where something terrifying lurks beneath the waters, threatening both worlds.

So begins an epic journey of friendship, survival, and courage, and some very funny talking frogs.

Reviewers have variously described the novel as ‘an impressive, stylish debut’ and ‘an exciting debut’.

One even likens it to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and CS Lewis’ Narnia adventures, musing: ‘As portals to other worlds go, the West Cork rain is up there with Platform 9 ¾ and the wardrobe into Narnia in terms of imaginative plot devices.’