For followers of the Redwall saga, every new adventure fleshes out intriguing aspects of the vibrant community and the settings in which it is based. For those to whom it is uncharted territory, Brian Jacque’s compelling story-telling takes you by the hand and leads you straight into a tightly constructed fantasy world. Here, Tiria Wildlough is an otter maid on a mission to fulfil an ancient prophecy and gain her inheritance. There are dramas and dangers but all ends satisfyingly well in the end.
Young Tiria Wildlough is an otter maid touched by the paw of Destiny. Her tale is an epic adventure which takes her from Redwall Abbey, across the wild Western sea to the mysterious Green Isle. There she will fulfil an ancient prophesy and gain her inheritance. Green Isle is the home of the Otterclans but they are beset by dangers from the Wildcat Riggu Felis and his catguard slave masters. Aided by two birds and a platoon of Long patrol hares, Tiria joins forces with the outlaw Leatho Shellhound and his Otterclan. This is a tale in the true tradition of the Redwall saga. Feasting and fighting, solving riddles from a forgotten volume, and questing in search of her title, Tiria strives to become High Rhulain!
Brian Jacques (pronounced “Jakes”) was born into a Liverpool Irish family on the eve of World War Two and grew up close to the docks. He began reading at an early age and was especially keen on adventure stories by writers such as Daniel Defoe, Sir Henry Rider Haggard, Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Rice Burroughs. After leaving school aged fifteen, Brian set out to find real-life adventure as a merchant seaman. He travelled to many exotic places; from New York to Valparaiso to Yokohama. It was an exciting time but the life of the sailor proved lonely and he decided to return home to Liverpool. Brian wrote his first book, Redwall, for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind. He first came into contact with the children through delivering milk to the school. He started reading books to them but saw that the stories were not sufficiently firing the kids’ imaginations. He decided to try a story of his own. “I didn’t have a typewriter and I was skint, so I went and bought dozens of 30p pads and sat up all night.” Brian was signed up on the spot for the first five Redwall adventures. The series has proved phenomenally successful throughout the world. There are over seven million copies of the 14 Redwall books in print. They are published in 19 countries and 16 languages. Brian died in 2011. He had two grown sons: Marc, a builder, carpenter and bricklayer, and David, a professor of Art and a muralist. Brian wrote Mariel of Redwall in honour of his granddaughter Jade and dedicated The Great Redwall Feast to her.
