Knight School

Kit moves with his family to Stoneygate, where his ageing grandfather is gradually succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease. Stoneygate is an insular place, wrenched by its mining history - by the danger and death it has brought them; and where the coal mine used to be there is now a wilderness. Here Kit meets Askew, a surly and threatening figure who masterminds the game called Death, a frightening ritual of hypnotism; and makes friends with Allie, the clever school troublemaker. As Kit struggles to adjust to his new life and the gradual failing of his beloved grandfather, these two friendships pull him towards a terrifying resolution. Haunted by ghosts of the past, Kit must confront death and - ultimately - life.

Kit's Wilderness establishes Almond as the most exciting new voice in children's books this decade. LITERARY REVIEW