A.J. Hartley

Posted by Faith on Oct 11, 2011 in Daily Musings | 0 comments

My pal AJ Hartley has a young (ages 9-14) fantasy out on Thursday. SO — two exciting things. First, is below, a Kirkus review of the book and pic of AJ (who is British and gorgeous and I just adore his accent!) And then tomorrow or Thursday there will be an interview by ANGIE BABY (yes, this is her very first interview) with DARWIN! So come back and read that soon!

DARWEN ARKWRIGHT AND THE PEREGRINE PACT (reviewed on August 15, 2011)

As if new living arrangements, new school and new country weren’t enough to contend with, how about facing whole new worlds?

Eleven-year-old Lancashire lad Darwen Arkwright knows his Aunt Honoria is trying to make living in Atlanta, Ga., bearable. But tea that’s more lukewarm water with a floating tea bag (ugh) that looks like a mouse, a distracted “babysitter,” Honoria’s busy lifestyle and her reliance on upscale takeout are not helping him settle in. Just before the start of school, Darwen follows a strange flying creature through the mall (after watching it messily devour a sparrow) and ends up at Octavius Peregrine’s Reflectory Emporium, which sells mirrors priceless and perilous. The odd proprietor gifts Darwen with a mirror that becomes first a window and then a door on the sylvan world of Silbrica. Darwen is a Mirroculist and can see through darkling mirrors into other worlds. Meanwhile, at the overly regimented private school Honoria enrolled him in, Darwen makes a couple friends…and as many enemies. Thefts at school, strange bones in the schoolyard and terrifying troubles in Silbrica all seem connected by more than just Darwen. Can he puzzle things out and survive? Hartley’s first dark fantasy for young audiences is, out of the gate, an imaginative page turner that manages to be by turns spooky, suspenseful and touching.

Likely the start of a series; “Brilliant!” as Darwen would say. (Fantasy. 9-14)

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59514-409-6
Page count: 432pp
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

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