Sally Gardner is a formidable talent as she manages so successfully to entrance, engage and grip the reader in a historical setting and in the originality of the storyline. The richness of the prose will delight adult and child alike leaving you gasping for breath and clamoring for more.
The story is told by Coriander, daughter of a silk merchant in 1650s London. Her idyllic childhood ends when her mother dies and her father goes away, leaving Coriander with her stepmother, a widow who is in cahoots with a fundamentalist Puritan preacher. She is shut away in a chest and left to die, but emerges into the fairy world from which her mother came, and where time has no meaning. When she returns, charged with a task that will transform her life, she is seventeen.;This is a book filled with enchantments - a pair of silver shoes, a fairy shadow, a prince transformed into a fox - that contrast with the heartbreaking loss and cruelty of Coriander's life in the real world. With its brilliantly realized setting of old London Bridge, and underpinned by the conflict between Royalists and Puritans, it is a terrific page turner, involving kidnapping, murder and romance, and an abundance of vivid characters.;Coriander is a heroine to love. Her story will establish Sally Gardner as a children's writer of boundless imagination and originality.
'Beautifully written, completely absorbing ... Magical' - The Book Magazine
'Brilliant descriptions, powerfully evoking the sounds and smells of London in the period and superbly drawn characters combine with a delicately constructed plot to make this book a real pleasure' - Good Book Guide
'A beautifully written tale of suspense and intrigue' - The Historical Novels Review
'Spellbinding' - Haverhill Echo
'A very unusual, poetic tale' - The Northern Echo
'An extraordinarily beautiful and gripping tale' - The Times
'Enchanting' - The Children's Bookseller
'Richly written, highly visual and full of accurate historical detail' - Children's Education
'Gripping ... as vivd as Pepys' diary ... strikingly original ... a very special book indeed' - School Librarian
'Completely engaging' - Jennifer Taylor, THE BOOKSELLER
'An original and enigmatic novel' - The Spectator
'A beautifully written story. Sally Gardner has clearly researched the times and customs very well indeed for she had me transported back to that far off time. I would definitely recommend this book, told with such care and feeling.' - Muriel Barking.NEW BOOKS
'Beautifullly written, completely absorbing story... the author evokes the streets of London and the political upheavals of the day with compelling ease. - Christine Kidney, THE BOOK MAGAZINE
'Will captivate readers with its riveting and detailed parallel storylines, its intriguingly drawn characters, and, above all, its engrossing first person narration' - Marla Arback,YABOOKSCENTRAL.COM
'The skillful writing sweeps through mid-seventeenth century London.' - SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
'A thrilling story that mixes historic realism, credible characters and the dreamy, sometimes violent, dimension of a netherworld. The two blend seamlessly in this gripping and orginal story that abounds with gritty suspense. An excellent read.' - Mary Arrigan, SUNDAY TRIBUNE
'A book filled with enchantment and difference. You won't read many novels as beautifully written and as enthralling as this rich, spellibinding, new-off-the-black fairy tale.' - John Millen,SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Author
About Sally Gardner
Sally Gardner is an award-winning novelist from London. Her books have been translated into 22 languages and have sold more than one million copies in the UK.
Her historical novel for older readers, I, Coriander, won the Smarties Children's Book Prize in 2005. Two thrillers both set at the time of the French Revolution, The Red Necklace and The Silver Blade, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2009, followed. Actor Dominic West (The Wire) has bought the film rights to both titles.
Her YA novel, The Double Shadow, was published in 2011 to critical acclaim. Sally Gardner's stories for middle readers include Lucy Willow and the popular Magical Children series of six titles: The Strongest Girl in the World, The Invisible Boy, The Boy with Magic Numbers, The Smallest Girl in the World, The Boy with the Lightning Feet, and The Boy who could Fly, which are also available as audio books. She has also written and illustrated picture books including The Fairy Catalogue, The Glass Heart, The Book of Princesses and Playtime Rhymes. Sally Gardner continues to be an avid spokesperson for dyslexia, working to change the way it is perceived by society. She is dyslexic and argues that it is not a disability, but a gift.
If you'd love to know more about Sally, click here to download a more detailed biography and Q&A.
To see a video of Sally talking about her book Fairy Shopping - CLICK HERE
Or watch a video of her talking about The Silver Blade:
