Robert and Michael are at a crossroads in their lives - Michael alienated by his father's death, and profoundly disaffected at school, Robert worried about his friend and the impending failure of his father's business. When they retrieve a tankard - once belonging to the nineteenth-century poet John Clare - from a heath pond, their find becomes national news. But the heath is designated for housing development - and the contractor is the one responsible for the death of Michael's father.

Following public protests over the future of the heath, the contractor tries to bribe Robert's father - financial help for his ailing magazine, if he will persuade the boys to end the protests. But Robert and Michael withstand the blackmail and the defence of the heath is ultimately successful. They are all profoundly altered by these events: for Michael it is the beginning of a process of rehabilitation. And Robert's family begin to deal with their debts and family relationships in a different way . . .

This book is part of a book series called Signature Series .

There are 272 pages in this book. This book was published 2001 by Hachette Children's Group .

While Nick Manns was growing up, his father was in the RAF. Every two years his family would pack up and move to another RAF base - but one of the things that stayed firm during his childhood were the stories he could fetch from the local library. Even in some remote desert outpost, there was alway a book to transport him to other worlds. He has written stories and poems every since. Formerly a secondary school English teacher, he is now a curriculum coordinator for Leicester College. A published writer of books about teaching, Control-Shift was his debut novel, shortlisted for the North-East Book Award and the Branford Boase Award, longlisted for the Camegie Medal, and nominated for the Stockton Award.