Showing results by author "Geraldine McCaughrean" in All Categories

Every time a lad came fowling on the St Kilda stacs, he went home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is.... In the summer of 1727, a group of men and boys are put ashore on a remote sea stac to harvest birds for food. No-one returns to collect them. Why? Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they have been abandoned to endure storms, starvation and terror. And how can they survive, housed in stone and imprisoned on every side by the ocean?

Fifteen-year-old Gloria is maid to Afalia's tyrannical head of state, Madame Suprema. When the country is hit by unprecedented flooding Madame Suprema runs away, fearing she will be blamed for the crisis. To cover up this cowardly act, Gloria steps into the Suprema's shoes and is thrust into a corrupt world where she must take decisions that will affect the life and death of thousands of citizens of Afalia, including her own....

The Trojan War is over, and Odysseus longs to return to wife and son on his island kingdom of Ithaca. But between hero and home stands an array of dangers unlike any ever faced by mortal man.

When Mary Lennox is sent from India to live with her uncle at gloomy Misselthwaite Manor, she is the most spoiled and contrary child you could ever meet. But she is also extremely lonely. Until one day, she discovers a walled garden that has been kept secret for years. With the help of a little robin, Mary unearths the key and unlocks the wonder that lies beyond the garden walls - and finds that making friends can be every bit life-changing as a magical garden.

When the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus, discovers her husband's mortal son Hercules, she vows to destroy him. Thus begins Hercules's legendary and epic journey in which he is forced to take on a series of seemingly impossible tasks.

His mother was a human princess. His father was none other than Zeus, the king of the gods. But fate has a way of twisting things, and now to save his mother from a dreadful marriage Perseus must undertake a perilous quest. Along the way the young hero will encounter a wealth of wonders, including a magic helmet, a flying horse, a dreadful sea serpent, and a gorgon whose gaze turns all who look upon her to stone.

When Mary Pinny dies from a snakebite, she leaves her young daughter, Comity, and husband Herbert in the Middle of Nowhere. As Stationmaster of the Kinkindele Repeater Station, Herbert Pinny takes great pride in his job; receiving morse messages and passing them down the Wire. But Comity dreams of a different life and sends letters to her grandmother and her snooty aunt full of colourful tales of her imaginary life. That is, until the new station assistant, Quartz Hogg, arrives and brings Comity and her father sharply back down to earth.

Once again, award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean brings a literary classic to life, retelling The Faerie Queen in an accessible and compelling way. The original was written in 1596 for Elizabeth 1st, but now McCaughrean introduces a whole new generation of readers to Edmund Spenser's exciting adventures of knights and dragons, sorcerers and hermits, princesses and sea nymphs.

Swordsman, soldier, poet...and possessor of the biggest nose in all of France! Cyrano de Bergerac was all this and more, for behind his grotesque face beat the heart of a lover. And, being Cyrano, who could he fall in love with but the most beautiful woman in Paris?From this conflict of nose versus heart springs one of the most uproarious, tender, funny, painful, and action-packed stories of all time - a tale that has its roots in truth, for Cyrano de Bergerac really existed.

Theseus sets off to meet his father and claim the throne of Athens. But first he must defeat many obstacles, including giants, trolls, and the vicious Crommyonian Boar. This is a brilliant retelling of one of the greatest of the Greek myths. The story of Theseus pulses with adventure, humor, and tragedy.