I'm the King of the Castle

Description

A twentieth century classic - a chilling tale of childhood cruelty and the exploitation of the weak by the strong - reissued in a fresh, contemporary package 'Some people are coming here today, now you will have a companion.' But young Edmund Hooper doesn't want anyone else in Warings, the large and rambling Victorian house he shares with his widowed father. Nevertheless Charles Kingshaw and his mother are soon installed and Hooper sets about subtly persecuting the fearful new arrival. In the woods, Charles fights back but he knows that his rival will always win the affections of the adults - and that worse is still to come . . .

Susan Hill was born in Scarborough in 1942, and educated at grammar schools there and in Coventry. She read English at King's College, London, of which she is now a Fellow. As well as I'm the King of the Castle, her novels include Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night, In the Springtime of the Year, Air and Angels, The Service of Clouds,The Various Haunts of Men, The Pure in Heart, The Rise of Darkness, The Beacon, The Vows of Silence and The Small Hand. She has written several volumes of short stories, including A Bit of Singing and Dancing; two ghost novels, The Woman in Black and The Mist in the Mirror; and a number of stories for children. Her autobiographical books are The Magic Apple Tree and Family. She is married with two adult daughters and lives in North Norfolk.

Hill's exploration of a juvenile ghoul and his natural prey is a brilliant tour de force * Guardian * Equalled for poignancy and horror only in Lord of the Flies * Sunday Telegraph * Delves beneath the surface of complex young minds, exposing not only their vulnerability and tenderness, their cruelty and malevolence, but also how parents end up turning a blind eye to their pain -- Anita Sethi, 'Guardian'