Sharp North

Two centuries from now.

The oceans have risen, the climate has transformed, and ancient war, disease and starvation has left its mark. Whilst much of the world has become unbearably hot, northern Europe is coming out of its deepfreeze years.

Mira lives in a tiny electricity-generating community on the Scottish coast. She runs the frozen mountains in the dawn light, teaches the other children and helps the women prepare food. She is happy enough.

Then comes the morning when, as she is preparing to run, she spies a stranger watching her from amongst the trees. A woman in her middle years. And then suddenly there are huge shapes coming through the forest and the woman is flying towards her, hand outstretched. But even as she comes close to Mira, the hunters appear and shoot her down. Within a few minutes the fierce men and their prey have disappeared,leaving Mira's life changed forever and setting her on a journey to discover who she really is. Soon Mira has become prey herself, fleeing frantically across the snowbound wastes.

Hold your breath, Briton! Change is coming, running like the wind from the North. And she is fierce and loving and unstoppable. She is hope for you all.

 

 

Blown Away

Both sequel and prequel to 'Sharp North', this book tells the intertwining stories of Dominic and Ruth, trying to survive through terrible turmoil just a few years from now, and Adeline, the girl who we met as a toddler at the end of 'Sharp North'.

Dominic has been abandoned at his expensive school. Everyone else is going, escaping the changes, escaping disease, the rumblings of war. The phones have gone, the radio and TV have gone, a bitter cold is descending on the country and Dominic is alone, trying to survive day to day. Well, not quite alone. The school's alcoholic caretaker is still around, and so is his wild beautiful daughter, Ruth, or 'Witchbitch' as she is usually called.

Then the trucks arrive, bringing soldiers who start to lay out barbed wire and perimeter dog patrols and gradually establish military order. And there are buses with a new group of teenagers. Finally, drawing up in a Landrover, the Major himself, a tyrannical, unstable man, come to oversee… oversee what? What exactly is happening here, and can Dominic, with Ruth's help, find the strength to decide not to be part of it?

Meanwhile, many years into the future, Adeline wrestles with destiny and a faulty heart in the baking Pyrenees. Okay, she knows what is happening in Briton, she knows all about her precious ancestors, she knows she is needed. But why she should she be bothered? What's she got to be so grateful about? Why should she risk her already-fragile existence to continue what Mira started?

And yet, what if she is killed? Does it matter? Does anything?

As we witness both beginning and end to a story that has lasted over two centuries, a moving, fascinating symmetry emerges, and a tale of love that easily skirts the years.

 

 

99

Thirteen-year-old Kez lives in a bus with her mum, Silver Wind. Yeah, she can imagine what you might think about that, but she loves being a Traveller. (It's Traveller, NOT Crusty, okay?) You want to make a judgment, you want to make fun… well don't pick Kez for your prejudice! She'll stop you laughing soon enough.

Thing is, one morning Kez wakes up and Silver Wind has gone, disappeared. And then there's a raid: the police move in and start smashing stuff up and arresting people, moving them on, all that rubbish. 'Where's your mother?' they ask Kez. She doesn't know. So BANG, she's suddenly in care, torn away from the countryside she loves and slapped in the middle of Peckham. No mum, no friends. But if you think that's going to be it for little Kez, think again. London bullies and drug gangs, think again. Social services, think again. Police, think again! Because Kez is getting out of here, she's going to find Silver Wind. And nobody is going to stop her.

 

 

Last Chance

Julian Egg doesn't show a lot. He's not mad or mentally ill: Liz is his psychologist, not psychiatrist.
Surely you know the difference? She just helps sort out problems. We've all got problems.

One BIG problem right now is Julian being left to fend for himself and for his little twin sisters. To do this his lovely father (now sunning himself in St. Kitts no doubt) has left a bit of money, a scrap of paper with a betting system on it and, for the twins, two Fuzzballs.

Dealing with nosey neighbours, getting everyone fed and ready for school, and diving into the dodgy world of gambling to try and make a living would probably be enough to be going on with. But Julian has girl trouble and school trouble too.

And then there are those Fuzzballs. They're sweeping the country, and everyone's going quite mad: psychiatrist mad that is. Does Julian really have to be the one to nail the dark corporation behind those overpriced pieces of crap, on top of everything else? Seems like he does.

Or is he the crazy one after all?

You decide.