Winner of 2014 Times/ Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition. This wonderful adventure story, winner of the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, is set on a beautiful Scottish island, where two teenagers – a Scottish boy and an American girl – find themselves caught up in a people smuggling racket. Fraser is out at night whale watching with local expert Ben McCaig when he thinks he sees a man in the water. Next morning Fraser finds a stranger hiding on the shore: Jonah was forced overboard but managed to make his way to land. His friend Solomon, who’d travelled with him from Africa, was less lucky and they find his body. A story of treachery and betrayal unfolds. Fraser’s brother Dunny plays an important part too: he has mild autism and is electively mute, though able in a mysterious way to communicate with whales. The descriptions of sea, shore and whales, are exhilarating, and the story itself is gripping: this is Moonfleet given a modern twist. ~Andrea Reece
A Piece of Passion from Barry Cunningham, Publisher Worthy winner of our Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, this great novel is a blast of fresh air – literally! Kerr has written a wide-awake thriller set amongst the waves, the wind and the wild beauty of a Scottish island, threatened by some very modern nastiness. I love our remote wilderness, and believe, like Kerr’s unexpected characters, that our bonds with the wild creatures need re-establishing to save what we still can!
On a remote Scottish island, three children make a shocking discovery: two bodies on the beach, a whale and a man. Fraser and Hayley see it as the start of an adventure, but sensitive Dunny is distraught. What happened on the water just isn't natural and only by watching the whales can it be put right.
Three children are spending their summer on a wild Scottish island. Fraser is desperate for adventure; Hayley is fed up she's even there; while Dunny spends his days staring out to sea. He hasn't said a word in years. But everything changes with the discovery of two bodies on the beach: a whale and a man. Fraser and Hayley see a mystery-adventure to be solved, but Dunny is inconsolable. And in the end, it will take someone who listens to the sea to put it right.
Kerr Thomson is a geography teacher in a Glasgow high school. He is the father of a 6 year old son and a 3 year old daughter and in his infrequent spare time he writes, cycles and runs the occasional half marathon.