Showing results by author "Sally Gardner" in All Categories

Neva Friezland is born into a world of trickery and illusion, where fortunes can be won and lost on the turn of a card. She is also born with an extraordinary gift. She can predict the weather. In Regency England, where the proper goal for a gentlewoman is marriage and only God knows the weather this is dangerous. It is also potentially very lucrative.

The life of Yann Margoza, a striking and mysterious Gypsy boy, will begin the night he meets Sido, the shy heiress who possesses a cold-hearted father. While Revolution is afoot in France, Sido will be used as the pawn of a villain who goes by the name Count Kalliovski. Some have called him the devil, and only Yann will dare to oppose him.

Coriander Hobie, born in 1643, has a remarkable tale to tell, the tale of a childhood touched by unexplained bits of wonder, but too soon marked by tragedy. After her beloved mother dies and her father is forced to flee London, Coriander is left at the mercy of a stepmother full of cruelty.

It is 1796. Duval Harlington, recently released from a French prison, is on his way home. He must reach his late father’s estate Muchmore House before the following evening if he is to inherit it. But the inheritance rests on another condition: he must also be married. He is at a market, hoping to buy a fast horse, when he hears about a wife sale. He takes his chance and makes an extravagant bid for young widow, Edmée Hyde. To his delight and dismay, the bid is accepted and they marry, only to find that he and Edmée are both hiding life-threatening secrets.

On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell, who has different-colored eyes, who "can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright," sees things differently than the rest of the "train-track thinkers". So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it’s big.

Ethel B Dina, who looks after the fish hospital and loves to sing, needs 10 green glass bottles to complete her musical Bottleramma. But she is surrounded by too many plastic bottles which do not make music. Join the Tindims in their glass bottle hunt, and meet the Tindims explorer, Tiddledum.

What is rubbish today is treasure tomorrow. Join Captain Spoons, Mug, Jug, Brew, Skittle and friends on Rubbish Island: wander through its warren of underwater rooms, including a toothbrush library and a hospital for sick fish, climb its terraces overlooking the sea and scale Rubbish Mountain. Prize-winning author Sally Gardner takes the Tindims on their first ocean adventure to show keen young ecologists how to help protect our planet for the future. A new series that empowers young listeners to get creative with their rubbish and save the planet.

France 1789: a time of terror; a charismatic boy, Yann, who must find out who he is; the daring rescue of Sido, an aristocrat's daughter: these are the elements in this tremendous adventure by a consummate storyteller, a marvellous tale of the first days of the French Revolution.

At the Wings & Co. Fairy Detective Agency, Emily Vole and her friends are beginning to worry. It's five months since their official opening and they still haven't had one case. Then local landowner Sir Walter Cross dies suddenly and mysteriously. The detectives suspect fairy meddling. And when Mr Rollo the tailor mysteriously loses everything and Pan Smith's wedding plans are ruined the night before her big day, they're convinced there must be magic at play.

Podgy Bottom is in trouble. All over town cars are being shrunk to the size of a matchbox in the blink of an eye; a giant purple bunny rabbit is running riot and a strange-looking broomstick is causing chaos and calamity.... Sounds like a case for Wings & Co, the famous fairy detective agency! Can Emily, Budget, and Fidget put a stop to this magical mischief before it's too late?

Spot on the Fishcake! The famous fairy detective agency, Wings & Co, has a problem. Really quite a big problem. Well, a few of them actually. There's the missing giant, Billy Buckle, who has vanished without a trace, and left his giant daughter with the detectives. There's a surprise visit to the seaside, which uncovers a murder and a stolen diamond. And then there's that tricky business of the TV talent show. Squat on a squid, this is Emily, Buster and Fidget's most complicated case yet. Read by Simon Russell Beale.

Narrated against the backdrop of a ruthless regime determined to beat its enemies in the race to the moon, Maggot Moon is the stunning new novel from award-winning author Sally Gardner. When his best friend, Hector, is suddenly taken away, Standish Treadwell realises that it is up to him, his grandfather and a small band of rebels to confront and defeat the ever-present oppressive forces of the Motherland. Utterly original and stunning, it is impossible not to be moved by Maggot Moon's powerful story and the unforgettable heroism of Standish.

A mysterious boy is the focus of a novel that takes us from the September Massacres of 1792 to the death of Robespierre four years later. After rescuing Sido, the young daughter of an aristocrat, he flees to England, making secret journeys back to France to smuggle out refugees. He and Sido fall in love - but then she is kidnapped, and he needs all his courage and skill to rescue her a second time. Even then the young lovers are not safe, for our hero learns who he really is, and how can Sido marry him?

On the Tindim's island home, Bottle Mountain is growing terrifyingly tall with rubbish. So tall that one night it breaks away with Barnacle Bell and Granny Shell clinging on tightly as they float off over the waves. None of the other Tindims know where Bottle Mountain is or how to help their friends find their way home....

In the fourth Tindim adventure, a glow-in-the-dark squid, drawn by the light of the moon, has wandered far from its friends on the ocean bed to the lake on Rubbish Island. The Tindims are puzzled by their new shiny lake, but with the help of Spokes, Barnacle Bow and a rather special invention, they discover the squid and try to help it on its way home again.

Halloween has nearly arrived, but a young witch is in a pickle. She has cast a spell and shrunk herself by mistake! When a gust of wind blows her out to sea, her best friend, a little ghost, goes with her. They find themselves landing on Rubbish Island where the Tindims haven't met witches or ghosts before, and the witch and ghost didn't know the Tindims even existed. But Skittle, Brew, Pinch and the gang are soon helping their spooky new friends get back to the right size and home in time for their Halloween parade.

1870. It is opening night at the Royal Opera House in a freezing city by the sea, where a huge crystal chandelier in the shape of a galleon sparkles magically with the light of 750 candles. Celeste, a theatre rat, wakes up in a costume basket from what she hopes is a bad dream, to find out that everyone at the theatre where she works thinks she is someone else. When the chandelier falls, she is haunted by a strange girl who claims to know Celeste's past and why she must play a game called the Reckoning to try to save the people she loves.

The Tindims all have diaries, but nothing exciting to write in them. Until the day that Pinch digs a very deep hole and finds something interesting. Adventure is in the air! The Tindims come face to face with a fearsome Garbage Gobbler, they bump into Stumbling Stone Island and find Skywhistle, Googletop, Eggnot, Peggnot and Cloud. And Broom meets Brush in a story with the happiest of happy endings.

Crumble cakes! A red rogue wind is blowing, and a wicked pirate captain and his crew are marauding the Seven Seas near the island left off the map of the world. A rare egg has gone missing and a very unhappy sea dragon wants it back. A pirate ship, The Kettle Black, is anchored in a secret cove off the island left off the map of the world. Betsy and her mum, Myrtle the mermaid, must dive deep beneath the waves, while Alfonso Glory and Mr Tiger fly high above the clouds in a hot air balloon. It's time for Mr Tiger, Betsy and the Gongalongs to set off on their second adventure....

One day the Fat Fairy turns up at Thomas Top's house to grant him a birthday wish. Thomas can't think what to ask for, so he wishes he could fly. That's how Thomas goes from being just an ordinary boy whom no one notices to being the most popular boy in the school. But it makes him sad that grown-ups can't see the wonderful things he can do.