By Emma Carroll (author)
"A time-slip novel giving us a fascinating look at our impact on the earth"
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Polly and her brother Joel live in Brighton in 2032 – when it is too hot to go out for vast parts of the day, and the government has to issue alarms to keep people indoors and out of danger. After a swim at midnight – that goes very wrong – the two are sent away to stay with Aunt Jessie – who lives on the shores of Truthwater Lake – a vast reservoir that has been dried up by the lack of rain, and the heat.
Whilst at the lake Polly accidentally ends up in 1952 – before the village under the lake was flooded to make the reservoir. She experiences the very different life of a village that no longer exists, the social mores of the time and the privations that existed in 1952 (being so close to WWII). Whilst she can’t talk to Joel about it, she learns a great deal about determination, friendship, and channel swimming!
This is a change of style for Carroll, as she is known as the Queen of Historical Fiction – but here we have a look to the future through the lens of the past. The story is full of friendship as well as the vitally important message that we should tread lightly on the earth to preserve it for the future.
Fans of Emma Carroll will lap this up – and, by taking a slightly different tack, I hope it will bring lots of new readers to her books. A thought provoking read.
On one side of the underwater street is the remains of a house . . . It's beautiful here, and eerie, a lost kingdom, a ghost village . . .
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It's the near-future and Britain is having yet another heatwave. Of course, the government have put in the normal curfews for this kind of weather, and shops are forced to shut again. For Polly, it's the sort of heat that makes her do wild, out-of-character things just to cool down. Like face her fear of deepwater. Essential when she and her brother have been sent to their aunt's eco lake-side house for the summer.
But Truthwater Lake is beginning to dry up. As the water level diminishes, a lost village emerges. Swimming over the rooftops at midnight, Polly dives down and is suddenly able to breathe, to hear church bells and bird song . . . Polly has discovered an underwater gateway . . . to the past!
‘Carroll is a natural storyteller . . .Historical fiction at its finest.’ The Bookseller
‘One of the greatest historical fiction writers of our time.’ Carlie Sorosiak
‘Emma just gets better and better and BETTER.’ Scott Evans, The Reader Teacher
‘Spellbinding.’ School Reading List
‘Trademark Emma Carroll, with a strong and relevant message and a pacy, twisty plot. A book full of gutsy charm!’ Lesley Parr, author of The Valley of Lost Secrets
‘A brilliant author.’ Independent
Once told by the poet Ted Hughes her writing was 'dangerous', it took Emma Carroll twenty years of teaching English and a life-changing cancer diagnosis to feel brave enough to give her dream of being an author a try. Nowadays, she's a bestselling writer, and has been nominated for and the winner of numerous national, regional and schools awards - including the Books Are My Bag Readers' Award, Branford Boase, CILIP Carnegie Medal, Young Quills, Teach Primary and the Waterstones Book Prize.
Emma's home is in the Somerset hills with her husband and two terriers. She still can't believe her luck that she gets to write dangerous books for a living.
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The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The Tale of Truthwater Lake and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
The Tale of Truthwater Lake features in the following genres: Books of the Month, Recommendations, Crime & Mystery, Adventure Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Ecological and Environmental Interest - Fiction, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Star Books, Featured Books for 9+ readers
Paperback, Hardback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. In Stock.
The Tale of Truthwater Lake was written by Emma Carroll and published by Faber & Faber
The Tale of Truthwater Lake has 295 pages
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. In Stock.
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