Voyage of the Sparrowhawk

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
Author: Natasha Farrant
Publisher: WW Norton
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2021-10-12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1324019735

Winner of the 2020 Costa Children's Book Award A Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2021 A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year In the aftermath of World War One, everyone in the small town of Barton is rebuilding their lives. Ben needs to find his brother, Sam—who was wounded in action and is now missing—if he wants to avoid being sent to the orphanage. Lotti’s horrible aunt and uncle want to send her away from her beloved home to boarding school, just when she has successfully managed to get expelled from her last one. When a chance encounter brings the two children together, each recognizes the other as a kindred spirit. But just as they’ve found their feet, disaster strikes, and Ben and Lotti must run away. They hatch a plan to cross the English Channel on Ben’s narrowboat, the Sparrowhawk, and track down Sam in France. But there’s something in France that Lotti is looking for, too. . . . Funny, heartwarming, and wise, Voyage of the Sparrowhawk is full of high stakes, twists and connections, and—most of all—adventure.

Jack Frake

Jack Frake
Author: Edward Cline
Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2002-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781931561211

The first book in the Sparrowhawk series of historical novels, introducing readers to life in eighteenth-century England, where rumblings of discontent amongst the citizens with government and Crown begin. Jack Frake is no exception to this endemic restlessness. From an early age, Jack Frake develops an independent mind and spirit, traits that are not openly welcomed by all for someone of his lowly class. Fate and circumstance lead him to join a band of smugglers and he faithfully furthers their cause. Jack eventually departs for the American colonies aboard the Sparrowhawk, destined for Virginia. He sets out to rescue his friend from the constable's jail, but instead of saving his friend, he finds his own life in danger.

The Children of Castle Rock

The Children of Castle Rock
Author: Natasha Farrant
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2018-02-27
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 057132357X

St Trinians and Lauren St John collide in this hilarious and thrilling bestselling adventure from Natasha Farrant! When Alice Mistlethwaite is shipped off to boarding school in Scotland it's nothing like she imagines. Run by the mysterious Major, there are no punishments and the students are more likely to be taught about body painting or extreme survival than maths or English! Then Alice's dad goes missing and she must run away to find him. Can she persuade her new friends to help? So begins an epic quest across wild Scottish highlands and islands, where friendships will be made and broken, lies will be untangled and the children will face danger and excitement at every turn . . . Both hilarious and heartfelt, this is the classic adventure story brought bang up to date, and told in Natasha's inimitable voice. 'Thrilling adventure.' The Times 'This wise and touching novel has originality and a fresh voice.' Sunday Times 'A gripping adventure . . . I stayed up all night reading it!' Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse

The Secret Starling

The Secret Starling
Author: Judith Eagle
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2021-06-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1536218413

A tattered ballet slipper found under the floorboards of Braithwaite Manor may be the key to Clara’s sinister family secrets in this delightful, lightly Gothic mystery for fans of Maryrose Wood and Claire Legrand. Clara Starling lives a life of dull rules, deadly routine, and flavorless meals under her cold uncle's strict regime—until the day Uncle disappears, leaving Clara alone in his old mansion. When streetwise orphan Peter and his rescue cat arrive unexpectedly, the children seize the chance to live by their own rules. But when the pair’s wild romps through the halls of Braithwaite Manor reveal a single, worn ballet slipper, they are hurled into a mystery that will lead to London’s glittering Royal Opera House and the unraveling of twisted Starling family secrets of poison, passion, and murder. Diabolical villains, plucky orphans, and glamorous ballet stars populate this absorbing adventure with a classic feel.

Aimee and Pippa

Aimee and Pippa
Author: Henry Sparrowhawk
Publisher: Fetish World Books
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2016-05
Genre: Erotic stories
ISBN: 9781904086918

Yesterday, Pippa and Clara were free. Today the pretty blonde twins are slaves, kneeling terrified, naked and ashamed at their masters' feet, together with their mother Annamarie and their friend Aimee. Their fate is to be transported beyond the borders of the Empire, beyond any hope of rescue, and sold in the slave markets of the rogue planet Akkadis, notorious for its slave brothels, breeding farms, harems, and its barbaric Arena. It is the year 2999. On the borders of Man's vast Empire, the Atkoi tribes, human but long since reverted to barbarism, are preparing for war. As a weak emperor tries in vain to appease them, an interstellar passenger liner is boarded, looted and plundered. The most beautiful young women aboard, including Pippa and Clara Warburton and Aimee Pembroke, are spared - if 'spared' is the correct word. They begin a nightmare voyage to Akkadis. There they are paraded and exposed for sale in a humiliating public slave auction. They are trained to obey and serve their new masters and then sold, either to primitive desert tribesman or the planet's infamous 'pleasure houses' where slave girls dance naked on the stage for the leering audience and entertain customers upstairs for the price of a few solidi... and those who fail to meet their 'sales targets' face painful, public and humiliating discipline on the dreaded weekly Entertainment Night for the amusement of the baying audience. No allowance is made for shy, modest girls, new to the collar. To survive, they will learn to submit, and obey, and to please their new masters. There is only one man who can save them. His name is Scamander: Archpriest Peter Scamander. Scamander is on Akkadis on the Emperor's business, but he has reasons of his own for ignoring the girls' plight. They soon realise they are the helpless pawns in a power game, victims of a betrayal of cosmic proportions. But Akkadis holds a dark secret which may offer the girls a glimmer of hope - a chance for freedom and revenge - if they dare to seize it. Sometimes the best weapons of the weak are the mistakes of those who think they are strong.

Imperial Vancouver Island

Imperial Vancouver Island
Author: J. F. Bosher
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 839
Release: 2010-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1450059627

"During the century 1850-1950 Vancouver Island attracted Imperial officers and other Imperials from India, the British Isles, and elsewhere in the Empire. Victoria was the main British port on the north-west Pacific Coast for forty years before the city of Vancouver was founded in 1886 to be the coastal terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. These two coastal cities were historically and geographically different. The Island joined Canada in 1871 and thirty-five years later the Royal Navy withdrew from Esquimalt, but Island communities did not lose their Imperial character until the 1950s."--P. [4] of cover.

The Witch's Daughter

The Witch's Daughter
Author: Nina Bawden
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2011-12-15
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0571287085

On the Scottish island of Skua, friendship develops between the lonely and mysterious Perdita and a blind girl, Janey. Both possess a kind of second sight - Janey's is the ability to hear, feel and remember more than others, and Perdita's is the ominous legacy of her being a witch's daughter. When Janey's brother, Tom, starts investigating a cluster of mysterious events and suspicious characters, all three become entwined in an adventure of hidden jewels, desperate criminals and dangerous detection. Written in 1963, The Witch's Daughter showcases Nina Bawden's innate regard for the integrity of her young characters. As she has said: 'I like writing for children. It seems to me that most people underestimate their understanding and the strength of their feelings and in my books for them I try to put this right.' Hugely admired on publication by both reviewers and readers, it was described as 'thrilling' by the Times Literary Supplement.

The Leopard and the Cliff

The Leopard and the Cliff
Author: Wallace Breem
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2011-11-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0571281028

The classic military adventure: a gripping tale of honour, duty, and sacrifice during the Afghan war of 1919 in British India. 'A writer who never disappoints one. He has an extraordinary power of treating military disaster in depth and yet with pace, whether on the frontiers of Rome or British India, and of analysing the tensions of command. Gripping as an action story, deeply moving on the individual level, it involves one as an eye-witness from beginning to end.' Mary Renault This classic military adventure is a gripping insight into life on an exposed outpost of the Afghan frontier. Major Charles Sandeman is an unlikely hero: an intellectual soldier, repeatedly passed over for promotion in the British Indian Army. When war suddenly erupts between India and Afghanistan in 1919, Sandeman is caught, as the locals say, 'between the leopard and the cliff'. Facing an uprising of hostile border tribes and mutinies, he must rise to the challenge and lead the retreat of his soldiers in a bleak trek through unforgiving terrain. Brimming with action, suspense, and psychological power, The Leopard and the Cliff is a masterful military adventure which has never felt more prophetic, offering insights into colonialism and tribal divides that haunt the world today. 'Gripping ... Brings out movingly and with skill points of vital importance to an understanding of British India and the Frontier ... Highly dramatic.' Philip Mason

The Week at World's End

The Week at World's End
Author: Emma Carroll
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2021-08-31
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0571332846

The hotly anticipated new standalone from the bestselling and award-winning Queen of Historical Fiction, Emma Carroll. Britain, 1962 'Who are you?' I asked. 'You don't know who I am? You mean, it's not been on the news?' The girl glanced from Ray to me and back again. 'It's better I don't tell you,' she said firmly. Nothing ever happens in World's End Close. So when Stevie discovers a runaway girl in her coal shed, the first thing she does is fetch her best friend, Ray. Both are dying for a bit of adventure, and when the girl begs for help, they readily agree. Yet they soon realise they've taken on more than they bargained for. The girl, Anna, reveals she's on the run from people who are trying to poison her. Meanwhile, on the news, the Americans and Russians are arguing over missiles in Cuba. As the threat of war grows, Anna's behaviour becomes more mysterious. And when Stevie unearths a dark family secret, she wonders if Anna has come to World's End Close on purpose, with a special message just for her . . . An enthralling thriller, perfect for our tumultuous times. 'The Hilary Mantel of children's fiction.' The Telegraph 'Rightfully owns the title "Queen of Historical Fiction".' BookTrust 'Historical fiction at its finest.' Bookseller 'Echoes of Michael Morpurgo and Nina Bawden.' The Times

Glyphs and Gallows

Glyphs and Gallows
Author: Peter Wilton Johnson
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781895811940

In 1995, Peter Johnson went looking for a rare set of petroglyphs located on the outer coast of Vancouver Island near an abandoned whaling village. Encouraged by archival research that yielded court records, 90-year-old correspondence and a tantalizing 1926 newspaper article, Peter sought to tie these glyphs to the 1869 wreck of the trading barque John Bright and the bizarre colonial trial that followed. He found more questions than answers. Why, for example, were two Nuu-chah-nulth men so readily hung from a gallows erected in front of their village at Hesquiat? And how did this event relate to the rock carvings that Peter knew existed in a cove many miles south, along the life-saving West Coast Trail by the Graveyard of the Pacific? This story explores the significance of particular petroglyphs, colonial injustice and the European trading mentality on the west coast at the time of contact. Peter interweaves a personal journal with historical narrative in order to produce a lively account of the relationship between our coastal history and a little-known Aboriginal art form.