The Apprentices

Description

A classic tale of life in eighteenth-century London, from acclaimed children's author Leon Garfield. Life in eighteenth-century London was hard and especially so for the city's apprentices. For seven long years they struggled for their livelihoods among the fetid houses and sinister quays of old London. But despite their hardships there was hope and even fun. This compelling story-cycle follows them round the year, through the dark, cold winter nights to midsummer in the city, The lamplighter, the pawnbroker, the midwife or the clockmaker, their stories interweave delightfully to paint a colourful picture of life in London 200 years ago.

Leon Garfield was born in Brighton in 1921. He was the acclaimed author of more than thirty novels for children and adults including Devil in the Fog, winner of the inaugural Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1967, The God Beneath the Sea, winner of the 1970 Carnegie Medal, and John Diamond, winner of the 1980 Whitbread literary award. He was also elected a member of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 1996.

Garfield at his absolute best * Observer *