The astonishing story of a young man's quest to find justice for his father, from the Carnegie Medal-winning author of Buffalo Soldier.Holding the reader in suspense throughout it charts the growth of a frightened boy into a brave young man with the inspiration drawn from the shocking true story of Thomas Benson, an eighteenth-century Devonshire smuggler.
Set in eighteenth-century Devon, this is the story of Caleb, the son of a poor puppeteer. When his father is wrongfully accused of theft and sentenced to transportation, Caleb is left all alone in the world. As a mixed race boy living in an age of slavery, he has always been treated with fear and mistrust. Without his father he is more vulnerable than ever, and is forced to seek out his estranged aunt. After a body washes up on a nearby beach, a shattered Caleb finds himself involved in a dastardly plot: a plot that places him and his newfound family in mortal danger. This powerful story holds the reader in suspense as it charts the growth of a frightened boy into a brave young man.
Tanya drew on her experiences of running puppet shows for Storybox Theatre to create Caleb's father's Punch & Judy show.
Tanya Landman is renowned for her thought-provoking, prize-winning novels including the beautifully “deft and dark”, Carnegie Medal-winning Buffalo Soldier. In 2019 she won the Scottish Teenage Book Prize for her critically acclaimed novella One Shot.
Tanya says that she loves how writing allows her to daydream – something she was always in trouble for at school! She lives in Devon with her sons, a Siamese cat and two Labradors.
