4.0
John Diamond
If ever I learned anything during that night, it was that, if you should hear the noise of running feet, you should not be angry, but think that somebody down below might be gasping and groaning and struggling to save his life. If you should see a boy raise his fists as if to bang on your door and then stumble away, it is not because he's a dirty little ruffian, but because he's just caught sight of somebody coming round a corner with a terrible hook. 'Really, ' said Leon Garfield, 'what I try to write is that old-fashioned thing the family novel, accessible to the twelve-year-old and readable by his elders.' This classic tale of a boy who sets out to right the wrongs committed by his swindler father demonstrates how extraordinarily successful Leon Garfield was as a story-teller. His work transcends all generations. First published in 1980, John Diamond won the Whitbread Award that year, as the best children's story book, and also the prestigious Boston Globe-Horn Honor Book Award. The Horn Book wrote: Narrated with the verve and pace of a picaresque novel, [John Diamond] combines a cast of remarkable eccentrics with superb sensory descriptions...A series of heart-stopping pursuits through the twisting London streets, narrow escapes, encounters with the denizens of Whitefriars, Foxes Court, and Hanging Court Alley move the story at a precipitous rate toward a thoroughly satisfying and surprising resolution.The plot is as convoluted as William's search - packed with unexpected turns, vain hopes of treasure, false clues, and masked identities...Richly imagined and audacious in its balance of humour and suspense, the book is as absorbing as it is compelling
Juvenile FictionAction & AdventureFamilyParentsHistoricalEurope
RELEASED2004
PUBLISHERElliott & Thompson, Limited
LENGTH166
LANGUAGEEN
Leon Garfield was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. Garfield's novels for children all have historical settings, mainly in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The novels were greatly influenced by both Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel _Jack Holborn_, for adult readers, but an editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded Garfield to adapt it for younger readers. His second book, _Devil-in-the-Fog_, was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Besides adventure stories for various ages, some of Garfield’s books were retellings of famous stories, such as Greek myths and the works of Shakespeare (later animated for television). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, a book Dickens left unfinished at his death in 1870. Garfield's first marriage was short lived. Having met during WWII, Garfield's second marriage was to Vivien Alcock, a well-known children's author. In 1964 they adopted a baby girl whom they called Jane after Jane Austen, one of their favorite writers. Garfield was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked. *-- adapted from Wikipedia*
4.0
John Diamond
If ever I learned anything during that night, it was that, if you should hear the noise of running feet, you should not be angry, but think that somebody down below might be gasping and groaning and struggling to save his life. If you should see a boy raise his fists as if to bang on your door and then stumble away, it is not because he's a dirty little ruffian, but because he's just caught sight of somebody coming round a corner with a terrible hook. 'Really, ' said Leon Garfield, 'what I try to write is that old-fashioned thing the family novel, accessible to the twelve-year-old and readable by his elders.' This classic tale of a boy who sets out to right the wrongs committed by his swindler father demonstrates how extraordinarily successful Leon Garfield was as a story-teller. His work transcends all generations. First published in 1980, John Diamond won the Whitbread Award that year, as the best children's story book, and also the prestigious Boston Globe-Horn Honor Book Award. The Horn Book wrote: Narrated with the verve and pace of a picaresque novel, [John Diamond] combines a cast of remarkable eccentrics with superb sensory descriptions...A series of heart-stopping pursuits through the twisting London streets, narrow escapes, encounters with the denizens of Whitefriars, Foxes Court, and Hanging Court Alley move the story at a precipitous rate toward a thoroughly satisfying and surprising resolution.The plot is as convoluted as William's search - packed with unexpected turns, vain hopes of treasure, false clues, and masked identities...Richly imagined and audacious in its balance of humour and suspense, the book is as absorbing as it is compelling
Juvenile FictionAction & AdventureFamilyParentsHistoricalEuropeMysteries & Detective Stories
RELEASED2004
PUBLISHERElliott & Thompson, Limited
LENGTH166
LANGUAGEEN
Leon Garfield was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. Garfield's novels for children all have historical settings, mainly in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The novels were greatly influenced by both Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel _Jack Holborn_, for adult readers, but an editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded Garfield to adapt it for younger readers. His second book, _Devil-in-the-Fog_, was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Besides adventure stories for various ages, some of Garfield’s books were retellings of famous stories, such as Greek myths and the works of Shakespeare (later animated for television). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, a book Dickens left unfinished at his death in 1870. Garfield's first marriage was short lived. Having met during WWII, Garfield's second marriage was to Vivien Alcock, a well-known children's author. In 1964 they adopted a baby girl whom they called Jane after Jane Austen, one of their favorite writers. Garfield was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked. *-- adapted from Wikipedia*
