-263x400.jpg)
"Tense, dramatic, thought-provoking, the story will enthral readers"
Interest Age 9+ Reading Age 8
Lucy Strange’s new novel is a ghost story, a family history, a drama inspired both by myth and real-life tragedy.
Nine-year-old George loves reading and writing and his teacher recognises his special talent, encouraging him to keep up his studies. But in the nineteenth century, George has no choice but to start work in the mine and spend long hours toiling underground, though he can see the terrible physical toll it’s taken on his father and uncle. In the heat and dark of the coalface, his imagination conjures up the figure of the minotaur, subject of a story in a book of myths he discovers hidden in his bedroom; when the mine begins to flood however, the minotaur offers George his only hope of escape.
A disaster at a pit in Yorkshire in 1838 saw 26 children drowned, the youngest just seven years old. Reimagining this dreadful event, Lucy Strange is able to bring the children to safety, while emphasising the courage and resilience of the miners as well as the inhuman way they were treated.
| Suitable For: | |
| Other Genres: |
