There May Be a Castle - Hardcover

Torday, Piers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1848668627 ISBN 13: 9781848668621

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books, 2016

Synopsis

A remarkable story about love and death from the winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

Eleven-year-old Mouse is travelling to see his grandparents on Christmas Eve with his mother and two sisters. But it's snowing, and visibility is bad, and the car goes off the road, and crashes.

Mouse is thrown from the car.

When he wakes, he's not in his world any more. He meets a sheep named Bar, who can only say Baaa, and a sarcastic horse named Nonky, who is a surprising mix of his beloved toy horse and his older sister.
So begins a quest to find a castle in a world of wonder - a world of monsters, minstrels, dangerous knights and mysterious wizards; a world of terrifying danger but also more excitement than Mouse has ever known.

But why are they looking for a castle? As the cold grows, we realise it might just have something to do with the family he's left behind; and that Mouse's quest is more important than ever.

This is a novel about love and death. It's about the power of stories to change the way we view the world - and it's about the power of a child to change their own world. Emotionally arresting but ultimately uplifting, this is a remarkable novel for our times.

About this title

Review

Piers Torday is the new master of books for children who like magic and modernity with their lust for adventure ... Torday understands the lot of the younger sibling, the power of the imagination to heal and the strong, irregular rhythms of grief (The Times)

Heartbreaking, surprising, uplifting - Mouse's snowbound journey is one you'll remember for a long, long time. There May Be a Castle proves that stories matter. They really do (The Bookbag)

Piers Torday continues to demonstrate that he is one of the best writers for children working today (The Guardian)

Original, ingenious and bold ... I am still reeling. (The Sunday Times)

Brimming with humour and excitement ... beautifully described and the tension never breaks (Philip Womack Scoop)

Heart-warming and heart-wrenching ... another fantastic tale from Piers Torday and one not to miss. (Carousel)

An outstanding book and a future classic (School Librarian)

Mesmerising and overwhelming with emotion. (Booktrust)

Full marks ... for a story not afraid to take on some of the fundamentals of life while still managing to preserve the lightest of touches (Books For Keeps)

If you were to dislike this book, I would not be your friend! (Omer (aged 11))

From the Author

Piers Torday's bestselling first book, The Last Wild, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as numerous other awards. His second book, The Dark Wild, won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2014. The third book in the trilogy, The Wild Beyond, was published to critical acclaim in 2015. He recently completed his later father Paul Torday's final book, The Death of an Owl. His next book for children, There May Be A Castle, will be published in October 2016.

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1848668627
• ISBN 13: 9781848668621
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320