The Road of Bones

Description

A chilling and dramatic tale of belief and freedom, of imprisonment and of escape - from multi-award-winning author Anne Fine Told who to cheer for, who to believe in, Yuri grows up in a country where no freedom of thought is encouraged - where even one's neighbours are encouraged to report any dissension to the authorities. But it is still a shock when a few careless words lead him to a virtual death-sentence - sent on a nightmare journey up north to a camp amidst the frozen wastes. What, or who, can he possibly believe in now? Can he even survive? And is escape possible ... ?

Anne Fine is one of our most distinguished writers for children. She has written over fifty highly acclaimed books and has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and both the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and the Carnegie Medal twice over. Anne was appointed the Children's Laureate from 2001-3, and her work has been translated into over forty languages. In 2003 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Anne lives in County Durham. Anne Fine was born and educated in the Midlands, and now lives in County Durham. She has written numerous highly acclaimed and prize-winning books for children and adults. Her novel The Tulip Touch won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award; Goggle-Eyes won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal, and was adapted for television by the BBC; Flour Babies won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award; Bill's New Frock won a Smarties Prize, and Madame Doubtfire has become a major feature film starring Robin Williams. Anne was the Children's Laureate 2001 - 2003 and won an OBE in 2003.

This ambitious book is a rare achievement . . . Subtle, stimulating and morally complex but it is also evocative and convincing: we feel keenly the chill of both soulless hegemony and its frozen wastes * The Sunday Times * It carries lessons to be re-assimilated by young readers - how society can be deceived, how people can become powerless and how tyranny can breed tyranny * The Bookseller * A hybrid of political concern and an excruciatingly exciting adventure-thriller, Anne Fine's The Road of Bones could easily be described as a Magnum Opus . . . The Road of Bones might be cold in setting but at heart glows with an intensity of warmth, passion, fervour and belief, it is the novel that all should resolve to read -- Jake Hope * Achuka * The Road of Bones is a startling achievement, not least for its refusal to wrap it all up into a neat and tidy happy ending. It will leave its young readers with a great deal to think about. Most children will know of the Holocaust, but few will realise how many perished during Stalin's purges. This alone is a story worth telling. Cleverly though, The Road of Bones also makes its warnings contemporary, timeless even * thebookbag.co.uk * Beneath its cold white cover a story of magnitude unfolds -- Diane Samuels * Guardian *