About the Book
Amy Davis's father abandoned her in the bus station when she was three years old. Now she's sixteen, hides from Welfare, earns cash stealing watches, avoids the cops, and shares a railway arch with Eric, an old tramp. It's a precarious life, but she loves it. Then she steals Robert Franklin's watch. Big mistake. Franklin's a billionaire, and he's also a criminal. Amy goes on the run. She gets fake papers and hides in Farley Grange, an up-market school. Being Amy, she's soon on a night-time burglary mission for a temperamental student. Being Amy, she falls off the drain-pipe. She's caught before she hits the ground by two four-hundred year old people flying about in black long-johns, and realises she's gone from the frying-pan into the fire...
About the Author :
Ben Rostul was educated at Aberdeen University, leaving with a First Class MA for a Ph.D at the London School of Economics. He decided he wasn't an academic and took a housing job, working during the day and writing at night. He became a client of the William Morris Agency and was commissioned for a tv series currently running. He was asked to rewrite another writer's episode and the remaining three episodes. The producer then discovered he still had the day-job and brought in a film-writing friend instead. His dialogue for the Oscar-nominated SCREENPLAY, inspired by mediaeval Chinese poetry, was, said one reviewer, "beautiful words, infinitely weighty, infinitely sad". His own short film, LOOKING AFTER NUMBER ONE, received rave reviews in every British newspaper. His agent at William Morris, a former tv producer and new-writer talent scout, was sacked and all her clients except Ben were let go. Ben was asked to stay by the head of William Morris UK and made the huge mistake of accepting. By the time he left William Morris he'd been on the dole for five years and was GBP30,000 in debt. His new agent was Rochelle Stevens, one of London's top film and tv agents. After four years with Stevens his debts were paid off and he'd bought his new London house for cash. His credits include the series McCALLUM with John Hannah, which with an audience of 12 million was one of the last of the big drama series until Downton. He wrote for the long-running series WHERE THE HEART IS, writing the prestigious final episodes. He's written for HALLMARK, CADFAEL, and HORNBLOWER, and REDCAP for the BBC. Two original screenplays, OWEN GLENDOWER and BEKEN PIKE, have both been optioned. His work is known for its punchy dialogue and emotional range, with strong characters and narrative drive. Now financially independent through script-writing, he has left tv to write novels for young adults, and is part-way through the series, LONGSHADOW: THE DAYS OF AMY DAVIS.
Review :
"It's the best we have read in a long time." - Bee and Walter Wyeth, The Owl and Pussycat, Ealing. "The plot structure and major and minor characters work well, in a sort of Batman meets X-Men at Hogwarts kind of thing. It would make a good, pacey, action film." - Ellen Galloway, Bookworm, Finchley. "It's good to have a female lead with so much backbone. The story is unpredictable and moves at a roaring speed. And it's funny and thrilling by turns. It has overtones of The Matrix, with a dash of Hunger Games but a voice all its own." - Joanna de Guia, Victoria Park Books, Hackney. "The Story-line is excellent, the characters engaging, it has some brilliant scenes, and the book continually pulled me back to find out how Amy was getting on." - Sheila O'Reilly, Dulwich Books, Southwark. "Original and engrossing - Grips from page one - More than a Good Read." - Michael Joseph, Joseph's Bookstore, London. "...enthralling and gripping...I loved the last sentence, which gave a really powerful and emotional finish to a thrilling book." - Megan Vincent-Pearsall, Archway Bookshop, Axminster. "I thoroughly enjoyed this story from beginning to end and I recommend it to anyone who wants a good read." - Joy Konyn, Queen's Park Books, London. "This is an exciting book, which we can recommend for all members of the family." - Bee Painton, Serendip, Lyme Regis.
