A powerful and haunting story about a boy’s pain and jealousy after the death of his father. Simon is outraged when his mother tells him that she plans to remarry. He can’t stand Joe Morton. He’s everything his father wasn’t and Simon can’t forgive him for that. To make matters worse, Simon’s mother and sister seem to be quite happy to welcome him into the family and to rub out the past. Simon takes refuge in a nearby mill and finds himself stalked by an unlikely trio of scarecrows. They are creeping nearer and nearer…But, can scarecrows really move? Simon seems to have unleashed a powerful hatred. Is there anything that can stop it?
Simon reveres the memory of his soldier father who has been killed on duty, and detests his new stepfather. Then one day three scarecrows appear in the field near the Oldwater Mill, and Simon becomes certain they are moving closer to the house each night. This novel won the Carnegie Medal.
Robert Westall was born in Northumberland and went to school in Tynemouth. He studied fine art at Durham University and after he graduated he worked as an art teacher. Despite having two degrees in Fine Art, and majoring in Sculpture, Robert Westall spent his working life teaching art in secondary schools, and writing only in his spare time. He loved teaching and worked in Birmingham, Yorkshire and Cheshire as a head of department.
He has had around 40 books published and they vary from ghost stories to fantasy epics.
