Spain, 1936. Felix, a spirited young nurse, has run away from London to help the cause of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. But she is also following Nat, a passionate young man who has joined the International Brigades fighting Franco. And George – familiar George from home – is not far behind, in pursuit of Felix …

As Spain fights for its freedom against tyranny, Felix battles a conflict of the heart. With the civil war raging around her, she must make choices that will change her life forever. An epic and moving historical adventure.

Highly Commended for Branford Boase Award 2013, longlisted for The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2013, shortlisted for WeRead Book Award 2013, longlisted for UKLA Book Award 2014, nominated for the  CILIP Carnegie Medal, 2014.

‘Syson brings history alive’  The Observer

‘gripping romantic adventure’  TES Magazine

Some book bloggers’ responses: ‘A nigh-perfect YA read’, ‘absolutely brilliant’, ‘reading it made me happy’, ‘I found myself completely swept away’, ‘I loved it beyond words’, ‘so gripping’.

Read full reviews and find out more about the background to A WORLD BETWEEN US

Also available as an enhanced, multitouch iBook, with multiple additional features, for reading on your Mac or any IOS device – includes music, photographs, interviews with historians, archive materials and more. Reflections on the iBook experiment can be found on Storying the Past – a blog which accompanied a series of Creative Histories conferences.

Academic analyses of A WORLD BETWEEN US:

A. Lázaro, ‘The Depiction of the Spanish Civil War in British Young Adult Fiction: Lydia Syson’s A World Between Us’, pp96-101, Crossing Boundaries: Transatlantic Dialogues and Gendered Narratives, Selected Papers from the 46th International Conference of Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies (AEDEAN),Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, November 8th – 10th, 2023

Reynolds, Kimberley. “¡No pasarán! The Battle of Cable Street as a Political Context for Youth Activism in Fiction for Children and Young People.” Children’s Literature 49 (2021): 8-22. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/chl.2021.0002.