Spine tingling from start to finish, this brilliant book is shot through with menace before reaching a hugely satisfying conclusion. Colin gets mixed up in the school play by accident. In trouble for something else, doing the play is meant to be good for him. It’s a play about murder and, when in rehearsals reality begins to get dangerously like the play, everyone blames Colin. But, is it really his fault? Told from different perspectives, this is a gripping read with a very thoughtful story at its heart.
'This play we're doing, it's not true, is it? I mean, there never was a Sweeney Todd who killed people?' Jackus never wanted to be in the school play, but he didn't have much choice. Now he sees that what's unfolding on-stage is more than just acting, more than just pretend. Strange things are happening. Terrifying things. Ghostly footprints. Unexplained whispering. The touch of a cold hand in the shadows ...What has been woken by the play's dark words? Can Jackus stop it, or are the actors doomed to play out the tragedy to the bitter end?
Gillian Cross has won numerous literary prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children’s Novel Award (now the Costa), and the Smarties Prize.
Gillian Cross has been writing children’s books for over thirty years. Before that, she took English degrees at Oxford and Sussex Universities, and had various jobs including working in a village bakery and being an assistant to a Member of Parliament. She won the Carnegie Medal for Wolf, the Smarties Prize and the Whitbread Children’s Novel Award for The Great Elephant Chase; and the Little Rebels Award for After Tomorrow.
