Secret Heart

David Almond's extraordinary books skirt the edge of fantasy with stories that reveal the magic all around us in everyday life. His novels - among them the exquisite 'Skellig', and the Printz Prize winner 'Kit's Wilderness' - are not for literal-minded kids, but only for those young dreamers who can float with the symbolism and enjoy the fragrance of mysticism. In 'Secret Heart' Joe Maloney and his good mum live in the dilapidated English village of Helmouth, on the edge of the wasteland. He dreams of a tiger padding into his room, and the next morning a great blue tent has appeared on the edge of town: Hackenschmidt's Circus, on its final tour. The young toughs who always make fun of Joe stand around sneering at the circus folks, "Clear off, gyppo scum!" But Joe is fascinated with the blue dusk inside the tent, and with Corinna, a young trapeze flyer his own age. He turns away from the urgings of his best friend, Stanny, to come along on a camping trip with sinister Joff, who wants to make a man of him by teaching him to kill things. He much prefers the strange, warm-hearted circus people and learning to jump with Corinna into the net far below the trapeze.

COVER: Paperback

CONDITION: Pre-loved

TYPE OF BOOK: Story book

SUB-TYPE: Fantasy

ISBN: 9780340743690

LANGUAGE: English

SUGGESTED AGE LEVEL: 9-12 years

AUTHOR'S NAME: David Almond

NO OF PAGES: 202

PUBLISHER NAME: Hodder Childrens Book