In this sequel to The New Policeman, a visit to Tír na n’ Óg becomes a necessity after J J Liddy’s daughter meets a ghost guarding the beacon. There’s something frightening at hand which threatens the whole human race and JJ knows that help can only come from one place - Tír na n’ Óg. JJ needs Aengus Og and his fairy kin but will they come to the rescue? Kate Thompson’s trilogy continues to infuse real life with a delicious touch of magic in a powerful story about human survival.
"Hello," said Alice, trying her best to sound friendly.
"What are you doing up here?" "I'm talking to the ghost," said Jenny.
Jenny has been making some strange friends lately. She's been walking barefoot through the wilds, talking to a huge white goat that wanders the Irish countryside. She's been chatting with the ghost of a young boy that guards the stone beacon at the top of the mountain. Her father, J.J. Liddy, knows these beings are connected somehow to the forces that are gathering around his homeland, plotting to destroy mankind. But will he be able to unravel the puzzles in time? Will he be able to secure the future of the last of the high kings? And is J.J. guarding some dark secrets of his own?
Kate Thompson is one of the most exciting authors writing for young people today for she is a born storyteller, is highly original and thought-provoking in her ideas. She has travelled widely in the USA and India and studied law in London. After living in County Clare, she moved to Kinvara in County Galway and there, three years ago, she discovered her passion for playing the fiddle. She is now an accomplished player and also has a great interest in restoring instruments. Kate Thompson has won the Children’s Books Ireland Bisto Book of the Year award three times – in 2002 for The Beguilers, in 2003 for The Alchemist’s Apprentice and in 2004 for Annan Water. The New Policeman won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Book Award Children’s category in 2005.
