Top

The Fire Eaters

On sale

2nd July 2013

Price: £14.99

CILIP Carnegie Medal, 2003

Select a format

Selected: Audiobook Downloadable / ISBN-13: 9781444915945

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

There he was, below the bridge, half-naked, eyes blazing. He had a pair of burning torches. He ran them back and forth across his skin. He sipped from a bottle, breathed across a torch, and fire and fumes leapt from his lips. The air was filled with the scent of paraffin. He breathed again, a great high spreading flag of fire. He glared. He roared like an animal.

That summer, life had seemed perfect for Bobby Burns. But now it’s autumn and the winds of change are blowing hard. Bobby’s dad is mysteriously ill. His new school is a cold and cruel place. And worse: nuclear war may be about to start. But Bobby has a wonder-working friend called Ailsa Spink. And he’s found the fire-eater, a devil called McNulty. What can they do together on Bobby’s beach? Is it possible to work miracles? Will they be able to transform the world?

A stunning novel from the author of the modern children’s classic Skellig – winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

(P) Hodder Children’s Books 2003

Reviews

The Times
Subtle and energetic...a powerful and evocative study of loss.
The Guardian
Stays with you long after the book is closed.
Independent on Sunday
An uplifting, beautifully written story.
The Scotsman
Almond's books are always moving, uplifting tributes to the human spirit.
The Guardian
Luminous prose...every character is perfectly served by this fearless writer.
The Observer
[A] strange and haunting story.
The Observer
A beautifully written, warm-hearted book. Almond's poetic, though gritty, prose avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality.
Time Out
A near-perfect piece of fiction.
The Sunday Express
Gripping doesn't do it justice - it sweeps you up and wraps itself around you.
The Bookseller
Lyrical and atmospheric.
The Sunday Times
An affecting meditation on pain, cruelty, class, belonging and the redeeming power of love.
The Times
A beautiful and brilliant novel. There really is nobody quite like Almond.
The Daily Telegraph
A tale so marvellously told it seems a shame to label it as only for children.
The Daily Telegraph
An astonishing, beautiful tale. Almond at his best.
The Times
A wonderful novel.
Financial Times
Almond's best book yet...masterful in every aspect.
The Guardian
This is beautifully written and polished to a lapidary gloss.
The Guardian
Almond makes familiar issues fresh; his characters are finely drawn and his depiction of place perfectly realised.
The Bookseller
Once in a while a book comes along that takes over your head and your heart. [This is] such a book.