Rooftoppers

By: Katherine Rundell

Narrated by: Nicola Barber

Embrace possibility in this luminous novel about a girl in search of her past who discovers a secret rooftop world in Paris.

Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck that left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive - but “almost impossible” means “still possible.” And you should never ignore a possible.

So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian, threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has - the address of the cello maker.

Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers - urchins who live in the hidden spaces above the city. Together they scour the city in a search for Sophie’s mother - but can they find her before Sophie is caught and sent back to London? Or, more importantly, before she loses hope?

Phillip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials series, calls Rooftoppers “the work of a writer with an utterly distinctive voice and a wild imagination.”

©2013 Katherine Rundell (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

What a delightfully spun story!

Beautifully written tale unlike anything else I have read or listened to. No wonder Philip Pullman has such high praise.

This is the best book I’ve ever read

This book holds a very special place in my heart. I can’t explain it… It is just perfect. Rooftoppers teaches you to look up and find a whole new world just out of reach. It made me believe in magic the first time I read it, and feels like glittering Moonlight every time I revisit it. This is what a book should be: wildly imaginative, deeply touching and surprisingly romantic.

SO GOOD

I love this book so much, it has a great story, but the reader is stellar. I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to it.

Wonderful book great reader

This book is fabulous. Unusual plot, wonderful characters and settings, and almost perfect narration. Thank you

WOW

wow this book is amazing I enjoyed it so much and loved the happy ending

The story itself was good.

I was really disappointed in the ending. While they found what they were looking for, nothing was actually solved.

Great story! And well read

My 12 yo daughter and I listened to this book together and absolutely loved it! The story is clever and engaging and well paced. We also enjoyed the reading—the accents and voices were spot on.

Not sure why I stayed with it

There are some nice ideas here, but it’s not very substantial and too bifurcated.

Sophie can be incredibly obtuse and selfish at times too. Spoiled in a sense. The narration didn’t help b/c the narrator gave Sophie such a plaintive and clueless voice at times. It got annoying.

Overall, this book should have been sent back for another edit/ shaping into something more cohesive and believable, and to flesh out the characters more.

Reader could have been better.

Every sentence in the narration was read with the same cadence, regardless of its emotional impact to the story. Charles's voice was a bit overdone. Language accents were appropriately presented, and the differences in the character's voices was well done.