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Rachel Ward, author of the NUMBERS series, grew up in Bookham, Surrey. After school she studied Geography at Durham University and, combined working for a number of local authorities with raising a family. She began writing in her 30's, starting out with short stories. One of these short stories formed the basis of the idea for NUMBERS. Rachel later came to the attention of Chicken House at a local writers' surgery and was signed to Chicken House as a result.
Her debut novel, NUMBERS, was the winner of Winner of the Flemish Children and Youth Literature Prize 2011 and the Angus Book Awards 2010, and was shortlisted for the prestigious Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2009 and the Branford Boase Award 2010.
The sequel to NUMBERS, entitled NUMBERS 2: THE CHAOS, was released in June 2010 and the third and final book in the series, NUMBERS 3: INFINITY was released in June 2011.
NUMBERS is currently in production as a film, and is being produced by the same film-makers who gave us This is England '86 and Four Lions.
Ward’s gritty YA thriller, THE DROWNING was published in May 2013. The second in the series, WATER BORN, will be published in August.
Brilliant swimmer Nic is haunted by the body of a boy she sees under the water when she is training. Who can he be and why does no-one else see him? As more and more strange things all connected to water – including the deaths of several girls of Nic’s age - Nic’s father gets more and more terrified about its dangers. To find out why, Nic begins to probe her past – and his. The terrible secret is uncovered but not before the evil at its heart has caused yet more deaths. Rachel Ward pulls no punches in this dark-hearted and tense thriller.. This is the second book in the dark psychological series that began with The Drowning, with the action taking place one generation later. A Piece of Passion for Water Born by Barry Cunningham, Publisher, Chicken House If you put a toe in the water with THE DROWNING then Rachel Ward’s stunning sequel takes what happens next on to new depths of scary emotion! More intense, more about relationships and with an even more disturbing evil in the water, this is a thriller that will keep you on the beach and out of the pool all year long! But more importantly I love the way Rachel makes those voices in your head come alive – you know, the ones that we think are the ‘real us’, comforting, commenting and encouraging. But can you trust what they are saying? We asked some of our readers to review the first book in this sequence, The Drowning....here's a taster....'I finished this book the day I got it partly because it captured my imagination and partly because I had real empathy for each one of the characters.....I absolutely love this book and I really think this is a great book for adults as well as children.' Read more reviews here.
May 2013 Book of the Month From the bestselling author of Numbers, comes the first in a new series of chilling ya/teen thrillers. A dark pyschological drama, with a supernatural twist, of jealousy, love and redemption...exploring the issues of teen identity and being true to yourself. Carl wakes up next to his drowned brother. What happened in the water? He can't remember. He sets out to discover the truth, but when the memories begin to flood back, he wishes he hadn't. And when he glimpses A beautiful girl he thinks he recognises, she runs away. Suddenly he knows he must find her - because together they must face the truth before it drowns them. This will stick in your mind long after you've read the last page. A Piece of Passion from the Publisher Barry Cunningham Black water does it for me. Not seeing the bottom but sensing movement below, the reeds pulling at your feet. And then there’s the power of water, suddenly transforming our towns and villages. What if something or someone began to direct that power for a dark purpose? Whatever you do, don’t read Rachel Ward’s brilliant new thriller in the bath – especially if you’ve got a dripping tap… In addition to our Lovereading expert opinion for The Drowning a small number of teenagers were lucky enough to be invited to review this title. Here's a taster....'I finished this book the day I got it partly because it captured my imagination and partly because I had real empathy for each one of the characters.....I absolutely love this book and I really think this is a great book for adults as well as children.' Scroll down to read more reviews.....
A gripping thriller set in a not too distant future tells of Adam’s secret and his dreaded power – he can tell the date of people’s death. As the waters rise and conditions in the countryside worsen, Adam and his Nan are forced to return to London. Here Adam makes the grim discovery that everyone has the same death date. What is going to happen? And what can Adam do about it?
A tough, teenage novel about being different. Jem’s life has been hard from the beginning and it is not made any easier by her dangerous secret; every time she looks into a person’s eyes, she sees the date on which they’ll die. Jem’s struggle with life and through it paints a dark and at times bleak picture but, after falling in love with Spider everything changes and the conclusion is one of optimism showing that wayward and unusual adolescent paths can lead to a life of value and happiness. A word from Barry Cunningham, the Publisher - "It’s not often that I’m absolutely gripped from the first chapter as I was with Numbers by Rachel Ward. When a big idea is so intense, important and moving that I can’t get it out of my mind... Brilliant." ...and a word from: Peter Carlton, head of WARP Films Europe (whose successes include BAFTA award winning film FOUR LIONS and hit television series THIS IS ENGLAND '86), believed right from the start that NUMBERS just had to be made into a film:'Rachel's book leaped off the page as a must for screen adaptation. A fantastic premise, brilliantly recognisable characters and a page-turning thriller set in the real contemporary London. This is a great story for teenagers and adults alike packed with thrills, tension and heart.' Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2010
Bea's favourite customer, Julie, hasn't been seen for weeks. Her abusive husband, Dave, claims she's left him but Bea can't shake the feeling something worse has happened. When a body is found, it seems to confirm her fears - until it comes out that the corpse is fifteen years old. Where is Julie? Who is the dead girl? And what was her connection to Bea's late father? Ant and Bea are back with their most personal case yet.
`I'm scared of anyone with a knife and a grudge' New Year dawns and something is rotten in Kingsleigh. With a body on the bypass and pet cats going missing, supermarket sleuths Ant and Bea have a new case. But juggling problems at work and home takes its toll - and as they near the truth, more than one secret is going to come out.
When a young woman is attacked walking home from her local supermarket, Bea Jordan, a smart but unfulfilled checkout girl, is determined to investigate. Colleagues and customers become suspects, secrets are uncovered. While fear stalks the town, Bea finds an unlikely ally in Ant, the seemingly gormless new trainee, but risks losing the people she loves most as death comes close to home. The Cost of Living is a warm, contemporary story with likeable leads, an engaging cast of supporting characters and a dark thread running throughout.
She has a crush on her boyfriend's best friend. How long can a good thing last? Sydney was sure Gavin was the perfect boyfriend until he moved across the country for school. After spending more time with her best friend, James, she's now rethinking everything. Sydney's once sure footing in life slips even more as she discovers new details about her own father's betrayal. Scared she'll hurt Gavin like her father hurt her, Sydney must decide if she'll stay with the perfect boyfriend, or the perfectly flawed boy who's been there all along.
CHisla Rejchel Uord zavorozhili ves' mir. Istoriya o podrostkah, sposobnyh videt' datu smerti cheloveka, porazila voobrazhenie chitatelej v samyh raznyh chastyah planety - ot Brazilii do Pekina. Esli razobrat'sya, v CHislah rech' idet ne o smerti. EHto kniga o tom, kak zhit' s ehtoj sposobnost'yu, s ehtim opasnym znaniem.
Es ist Sommer, es ist hei und in der Schule kippen die Madchen reihenweise um. Da hilft nur: baden. Zum Gluck hat Nicola einen Platz im Schwimmteam, denn sonst wurde ihr Vater niemals erlauben, dass sie in den Pool geht. Seitdem mehrere Madchen ertrunken sind, nimmt seine Angst vor Wasser krankhafte Zuge an. Fur Nicola schwer zu verstehen, denn sie fuhlt sich ganz in ihrem Element, wenn sie schwimmt. So frei und schnell und unbesiegbar. Ob das mit der geheimnisvollen Stimme zu tun hat, die sie plotzlich im Wasser horen kann?
Nik vsegda lyubila vodu. Popast' v sbornuyu po plavaniyu dlya nee znachilo ochen' mnogo. Prakticheski vsyo. Kogda v bassejne Nik nachinaet slyshat' nekij potustoronnij golos, v poiskah razgadki ona obrashchaetsya k svoemu otcu. No otvety na ee voprosy vedut v proshloe, o kotorom otec ne hochet vspominat'. A kogda neskol'ko sverstnic Nik tonut pri zagadochnyh obstoyatel'stvah, devushka okazyvaetsya edinstvennoj, kto sposoben otkryt' uzhasayushchuyu pravdu... Ot avtora vsemirnogo bestsellera "e;CHisla Vpervye na russkom yazyke!
Vam navernyaka znakoma sila vody. CHto, esli kto-nibud' poluchit vlast' nad ehtoj siloj i zastavit vodu sluzhit' temnym celyam? Kogda Karl otkryvaet glaza na beregu holodnogo ozera, on vidit, kak v meshok zapihivayut telo parnya, udivitel'no pohozhego na nego, i vrachej, okazyvayushchih pomoshch' mokroj drozhashchej devushke. Vernuvshis' iz bol'nicy domoj Karl osoznaet, chto nichego ne pomnit. No postepenno, otdel'nymi kuskami, vospominaniya vozvrashchayutsya. No samoe uzhasnoe - ehto to, chto vmeste s vospominaniyami vozvrashchaetsya i utonuvshij chelovek, ego brat Rob, i on obvinyaet Karla v svoej smerti, v tom, chto Karl otnyal u nego lyubimuyu, i zhazhdet rasplaty... Ot avtora vsemirnogo bestsellera "e;CHisla Vpervye na russkom yazyke!
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