Award-winning Elizabeth Laird has an exceptional gift for telling stories that bring both other times and other countries to life. Son of a warmongering Abyssinian King, Alamayu grows up watching his father spilling the blood of his own people and his enemies. He sees his father take on the might of the British army – and lose. Now just a boy being tormented in a boarding school in England, Alamayu has to draw on all his strength to recapture some of his pride in his past as well. Has he got the qualities to be brave and noble? A stirring book which does not shy away from the savagery of former times.
A sweeping epic about a prince torn from his mountain home. Based on a true story.
The British Army is circling the stronghold of the King of Abyssinia. Under orders from Queen Victoria, its mission is to rescue the British Envoy, held prisoner. Watching with terror and awe is the king's young son, Alamayu. He knows that his father is as brave as a lion, but how on earth can he and his warriors stand against the well-equipped foreigners? As battle rages, everything that Alamayu fears comes to pass. The fighting is cruel and efficient. By the time it is over, Alamayu is left without parents, throne or friends. In a misguided attempt to care for him, the British take Alamayu to England. There he is befriended by the queen herself and enrolled in Rugby College to become a 'proper' English gentleman. What the English see as an honour is, to this lonely Ethiopian prince, a horror. This is Alamayu's story, seen through his eyes: the battle, the journey to England and the trauma of an English public school as he comes to terms with the hand that fate has dealt him and tries to build a new life.
Elizabeth Laird is the multi-award-winning author of several much-loved children's books, including The Garbage King, The Prince Who Walked with Lions and The Fastest Boy in the World. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal six times. She lives in Britain now, but still likes to travel as much as she can.Read more about the author here.
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