Ghostcloud
On sale
7th October 2021
Price: £12.99
‘A superbly inventive and magical debut’
Piers Torday
‘Beautifully written and filled with unforgettable characters … a diamond of a book’
Ross MacKenzie
‘Utterly original, thrilling, strange and cracking good fun … every chapter is packed full of wild imagination’
Liz Hyder
Catch the wind. Find your freedom.
A riveting, magical adventure set deep underneath a richly reimagined London for 9+ readers.
Kidnapped and forced to shovel coal underneath a half-bombed, blackened power station, 12-year-old Luke’s life is miserable. Then, he discovers he can see things others can’t. Ghostly things. Specifically, a ghost-girl named Alma. Alma, who can ride clouds through the night sky and bend their shape to her will, befriends Luke. And with Alma’s help, Luke discovers he is in fact a rare being – half-human and half-something else …
Then Luke learns the terrible truth of why children are being kidnapped and forced to work in the power station, and he becomes even more desperate to escape.
Can Luke find out who he really is … and find his freedom?
A riveting, magical adventure set deep underneath a richly reimagined London by exciting debut author Michael Mann.
Piers Torday
‘Beautifully written and filled with unforgettable characters … a diamond of a book’
Ross MacKenzie
‘Utterly original, thrilling, strange and cracking good fun … every chapter is packed full of wild imagination’
Liz Hyder
Catch the wind. Find your freedom.
A riveting, magical adventure set deep underneath a richly reimagined London for 9+ readers.
Kidnapped and forced to shovel coal underneath a half-bombed, blackened power station, 12-year-old Luke’s life is miserable. Then, he discovers he can see things others can’t. Ghostly things. Specifically, a ghost-girl named Alma. Alma, who can ride clouds through the night sky and bend their shape to her will, befriends Luke. And with Alma’s help, Luke discovers he is in fact a rare being – half-human and half-something else …
Then Luke learns the terrible truth of why children are being kidnapped and forced to work in the power station, and he becomes even more desperate to escape.
Can Luke find out who he really is … and find his freedom?
A riveting, magical adventure set deep underneath a richly reimagined London by exciting debut author Michael Mann.
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Reviews
Charles Dickens, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book rolled into one. Mann creates empathy for Luke, who shows clear hope and compassion for others during this evil time. The quick-witted humor and fast pace keep the entertainment factor high. Thrilling.
This inventive adventure presents a unique world where ghosts bond with water to become clouds, lose themselves in rivers, and read your thoughts through rain. It's a satisfying and often surprising fantasy world that children will no doubt enjoy coming back to again and again.
Smartly wrought worldbuilding aptly engages with themes of identity and equity while conjuring an atmospherically gritty London that's at once singularly inventive and reminiscent of works by Joan Aiken, Charles Dickens, and Philip Pullman. It's a thoughtful and well-built fantasy that's also rollicking good fun
'Fantasy fans will dive headlong into this imaginative, action-packed debut'
One of 'Waterstones best children's books of 2021'