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Kit’s Wilderness

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What to expect

Kit has just moved to Stoneygate with his family, to live with his ageing grandfather who is gradually succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease. Stoneygate is an insular place, scarred by its mining history - by the danger and death it has brought them. Where the coal mine used to be there is now a wilderness.

Here Kit meets Askew, a surly and threatening figure who masterminds the game called Death, a frightening ritual of hypnotism; and Kit makes friends with Allie, the clever school troublemaker. As Kit struggles to adjust to his new life and the gradual failing of his beloved grandfather, these two friendships pull him towards a terrifying resolution. Haunted by ghosts of the past, Kit must confront death and - ultimately - life.

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 2000

Critics Review

Magic of a very different kind
The Times
An enthralling, multi-layered and complex story with a tension that builds and grips the reader. A wonder ful read.
The Bookseller
A writer of subtle, page-turning and daring exactness.
The Times Educational Supplement
Extremely good. Written with an acute sense of place plus a touch of the supernatural.
The Independent
Sensitive and absorbing.
The Observer
Has the same mesmerising quality of writing and a hauntingly intense plot.
The Sunday Times
The book treats all the great universal themes of literature - love, loss, redemption, mortality - with elegant, tender simplicity, and it is bound to touch any reader of whatever age.
The Daily Telegraph
Very touching.
The Daily Telegraph
An essential read from an original voice.
The Daily Telegraph
A haunting read for thoughtful readers.
The Daily Telegraph
A moving rites-of-passage novel.
The Guardian Weekly
This superb piece of lyrically-written literary fiction captivates teenagers and their parents alike.
The Guardian
Almond's magic is subtle, breath-taking, redemptive.
The Times
Gripping, convincing and effortlessly well-written
The Observer Review
Dark and gripping.
The Times
Almond's masterpiece: Kit's Wilderness is one of those rare works that changes how we see the world
The Guardian
Author David Almond
Narrator David Almond
Duration 3 hours and 8 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781844569304
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Children's Group
Genre Children’s / Teenage fiction: Family and home stories, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Families and family members, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Friends and friendships
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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