LoveReading4Kids Says
June 2025 Debut of the Month
Tess has skin that is ‘green-yeller like the inside of an apple’. She has webbed fingers and toes and can feel the beginning of a fin growing down her spine. She lives with her Aunt Peg in damp, dark tunnels underneath the River Tees, eats raw fish, their home furnished with human flotsam and jetsam salvaged from the water. Also living there is the terrifying Unkle Darkwater, a malevolent presence and a monstrous figure, kept chained in a pit but still a constant threat.
When Unkle finally breaks free, and Aunt Peg is lost, Tess is helped by the ‘dry-folk’ boy she saved from drowning and finally begins to learn more about herself and her origins.
Mike Edwards’ novel is an original adventure with a plot that sweeps readers along like the fast currents of the Tees. Tess is a distinctive and memorable character but it’s the language that sets this apart, the near poetic descriptions of the moods of the river, her and Peg’s newly moulded words, mood-swirly, gibbly, updown inout.
Ambitious and atmospheric with a strong sense of the North-East, it's an impressive debut.
Andrea Reece
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Riverskin Synopsis
A dark, pacy and atmospheric journey of self-discovery from a debut author and performance poet.
Tess lives in the "turns", a network of tunnels under the River Tees, with her Aunt Peg and her monstrous Unkle Darkwater. When Aunt Peg starts to develop signs of dementia, Tess must find someone else to keep her safe. And she is beginning to doubt her aunt's stories about her origins, too.
Tess longs to find out the truth about her family once and for all, but that will mean leaving the turns, and she has never been on dry land before - or mingled with dry-folk. Can she survive away from the river? And does she have the strength to take control of who she will become?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781529523980 |
| Publication date: |
12th June 2025 |
| Author: |
Mike Edwards |
| Publisher: |
Walker Books Ltd an imprint of Walker Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
272 pages |
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About Mike Edwards
Mike Edwards is a writer, workshop facilitator and performance poet from Teesside. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Northumbria University and is a previous winner of a Northern Writers Award. He has performed at spoken word events and festivals across the UK and has written and performed one-man shows, including The Rise and Fall of the Poetry Bandits (performed on Radio 4s The Verb) and Damn Seagulls (toured nationally). His debut novel, Riverskin, is inspired by the landscape and folklore of his native north east.
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