Secret Heart | TheBookSeekers

Secret Heart


Signature Series

No. of pages 202

Published: 2014

Great for age 9-12 years

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Joe lives with his mother in Helmouth, a forgotten village crumbling on the edge of the suburbs. His days are spent trying to evade the demands of school and the taunts of the local bullies. Joe's friend, Stanny, insists that Joe must toughen up, become a survivor - and he is adamant that a weekend in the wilderness with Stanny and his Uncle Joff will do the trick.Into Joe's unhappy world comes Hackenschmidt's Circus, and with it the strangely familiar Corinna. She tells Joe, 'In the circus there is a secret heart ' - a place of contained wildness where the barriers between the human and animal world are fluid. And indeed, Joe's dreams are already stalked by a tiger, so real that his skin and its pelt begin to feel as one...A stunning novel from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

 

 

This book features in the following series: Hodder Literature, Signature Series .

This book has been graded for interest at 12-17 years.

There are 202 pages in this book. This book was published in 2014 by Hachette Children's Group .

David Almond has written many award-winning books including 'The Fire-Eaters', 'Skellig' and 'Kit's Wilderness'. He has won the Gold Smarties Award and the Carnegie Medal.

 

This book is in the following series:

Hodder Literature

Signature Series

This gripping book will enrich your soul and fire your imagination. * Daily Telegraph *

 

Mysterious and enigmatic. * The Bookseller *

 

A sooty darkness permeates the writing, illuminated by sudden bursts of sunlight and the music of skylarks. * The Daily Telegraph *

 

A powerful story of love, persecution and freedom, it is his best novel to date (and that's saying something). * The Scotsman *

 

As readers will expect from David Almond, there's a sense of inhabiting a strange, vivid world that exists alongside the familiar, and an evocation of wonder in everyday things as well as in the extraordinary. This is a powerful addition to his highly distinctive works. * TES *

 

This gripping book will enrich your soul and fire your imagination. * The Daily Telegraph *

 

There is a mystical quality about David Almond's writing that makes him quite unlike any other author * Financial Times *

 

his best book yet ... As we have come to expect of Almond's writing, the book has a dreamlike resonance. It is a story about love, persecution, freedom and the conflict between man and beast, perceived here as a battle between machismo and a female animalism * Literary Review *

 

A life-changing story of hope, love and encouragement for a boy who's been all but written off. * The Sunday Times *

 

David Almond's books are strange, unsettling, wild things...like all great literature, beyond classification. An exhilarating, though not always easy read for anyone who, like Joe, has tigers and larks in their heart. * The Guardian *

 

A subtle, sophisticated book. Almond's speciality is an enchanting blend of the magical and the real. * The Times *

 

A lyrical and haunting story. * The Daily Telegraph *

 

An exhilarating, though not always easy read for anyone who, like Joe has tigers and larks in their hearts. * Guardian *