As gripping as The Diamond of Drury Lane, which was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award (formerly the Whitbread), this stunning second volume from Julia Golding will have you captivated from page one. It’s a rollicking good read but the characters stand out head and shoulders above so many other authors’ characters for whether they are heroines, heroes or villains, each of them are brilliantly portrayed. Cat Royal, an orphan who is under the auspices of a theatre in Drury Lane is utterly compelling as is the portrayal of 18th century London life. A fab history lesson without realizing you’re having one. The third one in the series – Den of Thieves – is published in February 2007 but we have been allowed to run a pre-publication extract of it. To read it, just click here.
Cat Among The Pigeons (A Cat Royal Novel) Synopsis
Pedro's slave master has come over from the West Indies to track the boy down and drag him back into slavery. Cat obviously decides she is not going to let that happen, but hereby makes herself another enemy. Soon, she finds she has the police on her tail.
Julia Golding is the author of over thirty books for children and young adults. Her stories are set all over the world (and in some new worlds too) and span the centuries.
In her first year as a published author, she won the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize (Gold Award), was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award, longlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal, and won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize. In the US, Secret of the Sirens won the honor book medal of the Green Earth Book Award. Dragonfly won the 2012 Beehive Book Award, Young Adult Division, given by the Children's Literature Association of Utah and voted on by readers in schools and public libraries.
She has sold over half a million books worldwide and they are translated into more than fifteen languages.
Julia Golding lives in Oxford with her husband and three children.
Click here to read a Q&A with the author from top children's publisher Egmont.
