Ella Jones vs the Battle Noise

Ella Jones is a twelve-year-old girl whose life revolves around sound rather than sight, because she is blind. She has not always been blind, but has a degenerative eye condition. Maisie, her guide dog and the relationship they have will be the envy of all preteens, their mutual affection jumps off the page.

In this the second in a series, Ella is once again called upon to save the world. The Greek god, Homados, the god of noise and chaos, has teamed up with Ella’s former adversary, Everett Croft, power-hungry business magnate, to unleash an ear-splitting noise – the noise of battle all over the world. When people hear this noise, it will drive them into such a rage and induce such a sense of hopelessness that they will constantly fight each other until the noise stops. The only way this noise can be stopped and peace restored, is to locate and complete the shield of Hercules. Only Ella has the missing piece.

Can Ella locate the shield and restore peace to the world?

Ella, her sister, Poppy who is sighted, and their friends Finn and the enigmatic River, set out on a perilous quest, complete with challenges set by the trickster-god, Hermes, specific to Ella’s personal fears, to retrieve the shield. Can the group stay united?

There are two particularly strong aspects to Edwards’s novel. First is that it is an own-voice narrative and there are some internal monologues by Ella which will give readers an insight into some challenges of what it’s like to be blind. Equally, importantly, it validates the experiences of those young readers who are blind or partially sighted. In Ella, they will find a spirited, three-dimensional hero and they can know that they don’t have to be side-lined in this adventure.

Second, it was particularly clever and potentially affirming that the quests set by Hermes were personal to Ella. It had the effect of making the reader more invested in what the adventure would reveal in her. It might also make readers ask of themselves if quests were based on their deepest fears, what might they be?

In Lucy Edwards’s work, readers will find education disguised as a fast-paced quest narrative. Fans of mythology and animal stories will love it too.

The book is also available with a braille front cover, and in braille and audio editions.

Read our Q&A interview with Lucy Edwards.