Showing results by author "Kate Thompson"

J J Liddy sometimes blames his unreliable temperament on the visit he made to Tir na nOg, the land of eternal youth, when he was 15 years old. It's perhaps not surprising that his children have also turned out to be a little eccentric, especially eleven-year-old Jenny. She forgets to go to school, can't bear to wear shoes, and spends entire days roaming the mountainside.

Following on from The New Policeman and The Last of the High Kings, The White Horse Trick travels from the now to far distant futures: from world's end to world's beginning. From the Winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Children's Book Award.

It's more money than the street urchin has ever dreamt of. But who is the rider, and why is there so much interest in his big black horse? And will the boy ever see the money he has been promised? There's highway robbery in the air, but it isn't entirely clear just who is trying to rob who.

1942. Sixteen-year-old Poppy Percival turns up at Trout's clothing factory to start work as a seamstress. Poppy harbours a secret - one from which she is still suffering. But she's not the only one with a secret. Each of her new friends at the factory is hiding something painful. The war will throw their lives into turmoil but also bring these women closer to each other than they could ever have imagined.

In 1940s London, each cobbled street is strewn with ghosts of soldiers past. And for the women, their battles are on the home front. Flossy is embraced by the colourful mix of characters working at Trout's, who have turned their sewing expertise to war work. Dolly Doolaney, darling of the East End, helps Flossy settle into wartime life. All of the sewing bees play their part in defending the front line, but as the Blitz hits London, can Dolly manage to contain the secret that binds them all?

During World War Two, Churchill declared that 'beauty was duty'. But for the women working at the Yardley cosmetics factory in London's East End, it's friendship and family. Nineteen-year-old Lily Gunn runs the conveyor belt in the factory's Lipstick Room with tight reins, though of all the women working there it's her 16-year-old sister who gives her the most trouble. Especially when Rene's new boyfriend Ronnie gets called up to fight, leaving Rene alone and with a big problem.... 

The East End streets are grimy and brutal, but in one corner of Bethnal Green it's forever Hollywood. Stella and Winnie work in Herbie's studio; their best friend, Kitty, works next door as an apprentice dressmaker. All life passes through the studio, wishing to capture that perfect moment in time. As clouds of war brew on the horizon, danger looms over the East End. Will the wedding girls find their happy ever after?

With her 15th birthday imminent, Tess is running out of time. She must decide who, or what, she will become when she makes the final Switch of her life. To make the impossible decision even worse, she finds herself bundled off to relatives in the country, miles from home, her parents and, most importantly, Kevin. What on earth will she do in the wild woods? And what will the wild woods do to her?

There is never enough time in Kinvara. When Helen Liddy is asked what she wants for her birthday, she says, "Time. That's what I want. Time." Fifteen-year-old JJ is continuing the Liddy family tradition with his fiddle-playing. But one day, he discovers that music might not be the only thing that runs in his veins. Was his great-grandfather was a murderer? When JJ sets out to buy his mother some time, he discovers the answer, as well as some truly remarkable things about music, myth, and magic.

Kevin knows that Tess is a Switcher, for he is one too able to take on any animal shape he chooses and to think, feel and live as that creature. Kevin persuades Tess to join him as a rat, and the two make their way beneath the snowbound city through the underground network to see Lizzie, a strange old woman who tells the children that they alone can save the world from icy destruction. Can they trust her? And can they overcome the terrible enemy which waits at the heart of the blizzards in the north?

There's something strange about Martin, and Tess can't work out what it is. He's a Switcher, with the same amazing powers that she has, but there's a sinister side to him. As Tess begins to unravel the awful secret Martin is hiding, she is dragged into the dark night-time world in which he lurks. And there she is faced with the most terrifying choice of her life.

Annie, Rose, Pearl and Millie carry on making matches for the British Army, with bombs raining down around them. Inspired by the Dig for Victory campaign, Annie persuades the owners to start Bryant & May allotment in the factory grounds. With plenty of sweat and toil, the girls eventually carve out a corner of the yard into a green plot full of life and colour. In the darkest of times, the girls find their allotment a tranquil, happy escape.