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Operation Bunny

The Fairy Detective Agency (Book 1)

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What to expect

Emily Vole makes headline news in the first weeks of her life, when she is found in an abandoned hatbox in Stanstead Airport.

Then, only a few years later, her neighbour Mrs String dies leaving Emily a mysterious inheritance: an old shop, a small bunch of golden keys and a cat called Fidget. In the shop Emily discovers drawers full of fairy wings and the beginning of an adventure of a lifetime as the old Fairy Detective Agency comes back to life.

It is up to Emily to reopen the shop, and recall the fairies to duty. Together they must embark on their first mystery to find Emily Vole's real parents and do battle with their great fairy-snatching enemy, Harpula.

Read by Simon Russell Beale. Simon Russell Beale has starred on stage, screen and TV and has been described as one of the greatest stage actors of his generation. He has been in numerous roles for The Royal Shakespeare Company and has won the Lawrence Olivier Theatre Award 3 times. In 2003 he was appointed a CBE. In 2008 Simon made his début as a television presenter, fronting the BBC Four series Sacred Music with Harry Christophers .He has read numerous audiobooks including Orion's Don't Cook Cinderella by Francesca Simon.

(P)2004 Orion Publishing Group.Ltd

Critics Review

Fun, quirky and imaginative
The Observer
Brimming with humour, mystery and magic
Lovereading4kids
Perfectly pitched ... spiked with the kind of wit and social comment that will have parents chuckling over their children's shoulders. Something completely out of the ordinary
Books For Keeps
A must for any junior school library ... with a wicked sense of humour
Reading Zone
A funny, quirky, modern fairy story
BFK Books
A rib-tickling twist on the perennial theme of the ill-used orphan
eViews
A delightful, funny tale from the great Sally Gardner ... The sense of an unjust adult world is reminiscent of Roald Dahl's work and equally as intelligently witty
Families Online
Intriguing and inventive ... Gardner's writing has in impressive lightness of touch and lots of subtle humour
School Librarian
Quirky, fun and totally charming ... a wackily surreal magical story with stunning illustrations
TBK
I love this book so much
The Guardian
An absolute cracker. Gardner writes with a delirious wit, sketching out intriguing characters and doling out jokes and pathos in exactly the right measure.
Financial Times
Brims with quirky carm
The Guardian
Author Sally Gardner, illustrated by David Roberts
Narrator Simon Russell Beale
Series The Fairy Detective Agency
Duration 2 hours and 33 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781409109570
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Children's Group
Genre Children’s / Teenage fiction: Crime and mystery fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Fantasy
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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