Continuing the adventures of Gabriel Finley, this middle grade fantasy weaves an emotionally rich narrative filled with intrigue and magic. With comparisons to beloved series like Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, it promises a captivating journey that explores themes of friendship, bravery, and the quest for knowledge. Readers can expect a blend of adventure and heartfelt moments as Gabriel navigates new challenges alongside his raven companion.
Tom Bedlam erlebt ein wunderbares Leben, in dem sein Glücksstern selbst schwierige Situationen wendet. Nach einer schweren Zeit als Hilfsarbeiter im viktorianischen London erhält er Unterstützung von seinem Großvater und wagt den Sprung ins Leben, bis er erkennt, dass man für die Liebe kämpfen muss.
As a boy, Tom Bedlam grows up fatherless and poor in South London in the 1860s. But everything changes when Tom's wastrel of a father turns up; he discovers the existence of an older brother who disappeared at birth; and he is sent to boarding school. There he makes a Faustian pact that will haunt his adult life, as he strives to create the family he dreamed of in childhood and be the man his father was not. Ranging from London to South Africa, from the Boer War to the final months of the First World War, Tom Bedlam captures the spirit of the times as it portrays a beguiling hero wrestling with his loyalties, affections and conscience - until he realises that the simple bonds of family can prevail against human folly and the march of progress. Dramatic, whimsical and shot through with lively humour, this is a novel as entertaining as it is affecting.
When Howard and Julia Lament adopt Will, a baby secretly switched at birth in a bizarre hospital debacle, the Laments begin a journey which takes them from Northern Rhodesia to the Persian Gulf, England and suburban America, as they search for their place in the world. Howard is an engineer and dreamer, who studies the conveyance of liquids through valves. Julia is woman of fiery spirit and a passion for Shakespeare, who is constantly called upon to reinvent her family's life and her own. Will's twin brothers, Marcus and Julius, force Will to question his place in the family, and Will struggles to find a sense of his own identity through the characters he meets en route - from Ruth, his first love in Africa, who carries around a biscuit tin lid to admire her reflection to Dawn Snedecker, the lisping intellectual who breaks his heart in America. Through the Laments' restlessness, their responses to adversity, and especially their unwieldy love for one another, George Hagen draws a picture of every family that is funny, tragic, hopeful and true.
