"Perhaps we're here to save a few people. Maybe that's the gift."Fifteen-year-old Frances has been sent down to the coast for a little break. Her brother, Johnny, is out on bail after punching an off-duty policeman, and some shady characters have thrown a brick through the window of their flat. Frances's mum went off to stay with her boyfriend and Frances is sent to Helmstown, to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin Max. Frances befriends Peter Kennedy, a somewhat tramp-like character who lives in a beach hut along the Helmstown seafront. As soon as they meet, Peter recognizes that Frances is a messenger, just like him. As messengers, Frances and Peter experience black-outs. Afterwards, when they come round, they have the ability to draw, in minute detail, the scene of an accident. Peter lives with the burden of telling the people in his drawings about the circumstances of their death. He believes that if he doesn't, something bad will happen to his family. While Frances lives in dread of anything happening to her brother Johnny, she begins to think more positively: although she can't change the past, she can change the future, at least for a chosen few. Another compelling and thrilling novel for teenagers by the young author of the highly acclaimed Daylight Saving.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 12 years.

There are 224 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2013 by Walker Books Ltd .

Edward Hogan was born in Derby in 1980 and now lives in Brighton. He is a graduate of the MA Creative Writing Course at UEA. His first novel, Blackmoor, won the Desmond Elliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and the Dylan Thoma Prize. The Messengers is his second book for teenagers.