The Double Shadow

Description

Arnold Ruben has created a memory machine, a utopia housed in a picture palace, where the happiest memories replay forever, a haven in which he and his precious daughter can shelter from the war-clouds gathering over 1937 Britain. But on the day of her seventeenth birthday Amaryllis leaves Warlock Hall and the world she has known and wakes to find herself in a desolate and disturbing place. Something has gone terribly wrong with her father's plan. Against the tense backdrop of the second World War Sally Gardner explores families and what binds them, fathers and daughters, past histories, passions and cruelty, love and devastation in a novel rich in character and beautifully crafted.

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. 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's not a disability, but a gift.

A paranormal teen romance with a rare philosophical depth * Financial Times * Astonishing * The Guardian * Exciting and fulfilling * Carousel * Extraordinary -- one of those rare novels published for young readers where we are admitted to a secondary world charged with its writer's exceptional intelligence of both mind and emotion * Books For Keeps * A rich and compelling book ... a tour de force * School Librarian * An extraordinary novel of unusual grace and power * The Daily Telegraph * Remarkable ... lyrical ... unpredictable * The Times * At times the writing is almost too good -- so visual, so visceral that you can feel the green fog of captured memories seeping out form the pages * The Sunday Telegraph * What a mysterious and haunting book ... terrifying and fascinating in equal measure * The Bookseller * Strikingly original * The Independent * Gardner is a true artist and original ... The writing is thrillingly vivid, dramatic and makes for a serious treat which keeps readers on the edge of their seats all the way to the end * The Times * Typically brilliant ... an unusual and constantly challenging story * The Independent * One of those haunting books that will be remembered by the reader for a lifetime * SFX Magazine * This is one of those rare gems that can easily become a classic. * LIBRARIAN LAVENDER *