Riverskin: A pacy and atmospheric tale of family secrets and courage for middle grade readers, from a debut author and performance poet

A dark, pacy and atmospheric journey of self-discovery from a debut author and performance poet. Tess lives in the “turns”, a network of tunnels under the River Tees, with her Aunt Peg and her monstrous Unkle Darkwater. When Aunt Peg starts to develop signs of dementia, Tess must find someone else to keep her safe. And she is beginning to doubt her aunt's stories about her origins, too. Tess longs to find out the truth about her family once and for all, but that will mean leaving the turns, and she has never been on dry land before – or mingled with dry-folk. Can she survive away from the river? And does she have the strength to take control of who she will become?

About the Author :
Mike Edwards is a writer, workshop facilitator and performance poet from Teesside. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Northumbria University and is a previous winner of a Northern Writers Award. He has performed at spoken word events and festivals across the UK and has written and performed one-man shows, including The Rise and Fall of the Poetry Bandits (performed on Radio 4s The Verb) and Damn Seagulls (toured nationally). His debut novel, Riverskin, is inspired by the landscape and folklore of his native north east.

Review :
Think The Little Mermaid but with discarded shopping trolleys and techno. It’s a brilliant contemporary twist and hats off to Mike Edwards for dressing his heroine in a Tesco carrier bag . . . Riverskin is a bold debut and its atmosphere lingers long after the last page — much like the smell of scum on anyone who dares a dip in a British river. Shaped by Teesside dialect and filled with punchy, poetic coinages, this atmospheric 9+ debut brings local legend into the everyday. Tess lives in the “turns”, a network of tunnels under the River Tees with her Aunt Peg, a slippery, “toad-green”, webbed-fingered creature inspired by Peg Powler, a water witch from northern English folklore who was said to snatch naughty children from the banks of the Tees. Here, ambiguous Aunt Peg is also the jailer of Unkle Darkwater, an angry, menacing presence, who is kept chained up in one of the pits. The prisoner is “slime-slick with river filth, scarred, skin rotty and scab-hard. His breath is heavy, sour-seethy.” Aunt Peg getting “muddled and mind-slippy”. Which one should Tess trust? Riverskin is a bold, evocative debut — The Little Mermaid meets Skellig but with discarded shopping trolleys and techno. Mike Edwards’s prose has the energy you might expect from a spoken-word performer, and hats off to him for dressing his heroine in a Tesco carrier bag. Stunning. Mike Edwards’ novel is an original adventure with a plot that sweeps readers along like the fast currents of the Tees. Tess is a distinctive and memorable character but it’s the language that sets this apart, the near poetic descriptions of the moods of the river, her and Peg’s newly moulded words, mood-swirly, gibbly, updown inout. Ambitious and atmospheric with a strong sense of the North-East, it's an impressive debut.