An extraordinary story about friendship and betrayal. Of revenge and retribution but also redemption. Perfect for 11+ readers who enjoy Stranger Things. Hex never meant for the girl to follow him and his friend Tommo into the woods. He never meant for her to fall off the rope swing and break her arm. When the finger of blame is pointed at him, Hex runs deep into the woods and his fierce sense of injustice leads him to a strange clearing in the woods - a clearing that has never been there before - where an old lady in a cottage offers him a deal. She'll rid the world of those who wronged him and Hex can carry on his life with them all forgotten and as if nothing ever happened. But what Hex doesn't know is someone else has been offered the same deal. When Hex's best friend Tommo wakes up the next day, he is in a completely different world but he only has murmurs of memories of the world before. Moments of deja vu that feel like Tommo's lived this day before. Can Tommo put the world right again? Back to how it was? Or can he find a way to make a new world that could be better for them all?
A.F. Harrold is an English poet who spends his time onstage, writing poems and books, and stroking his beard (it helps churn the ideas). He is the author of The Song from Somewhere Else (illustrated by Levi Pinfold), the Fizzlebert Stump series and the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal longlisted The Imaginary (illustrated by Emily Gravett). He lives in Reading with a stand-up comedian and two cats. Levi Pinfold has been drawing from imagination for as long as he can remember. His published picture books are The Django, Black Dog and Greenling. Black Dog won the prestigious CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal in 2013. Born in the Forest of Dean, he has somehow found himself living in northern NSW, Australia. He likes paintings, books, music and some cats.
Title: The Worlds We Leave Behind
Author: Harrold, A.F.
ISBN: 9781526623881
Binding:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication Date: 2022-08-04
Number of Pages: 272
Weight: 0.7882 kg
A dark and intriguing mystery, full of Pinfold's breath-taking artwork * Editor's choice, The Bookseller *
Extraordinary ... as moving, strange and profound as Skellig * Guardian on The Song from Somewhere Else *
Yet again A.F Harrold & Levi Pinfold have produced a near perfect work of art. Harrold words bring wit and wonder together, and their spirit is beautifully caught by Pinfold's images. * Carnegie-winning author, Anthony McGowan *
A beautifully written dark & twisty book which lingers long after the final page has been turned. Levi Pinfold's haunting illustrations add to the magic * Hannah Gold, author of The Last Bear *
Broodingly atmospheric ... A fantasy blending the strange and the everyday * Sunday Times *
AF Harold is an astonishing writer and this story of lost and found friendships is brimming over with dark imagination and magical storytelling. No one will be able to forget spending time in his world * Keith Gray *