This is a tense, fast-moving adventure story set just over a hundred years ago in the American mid-west. When the trains cease to stop at a settlement the livelihood of the families there are at stake and the community get together to put things right whatever the cost. It’s sure to bring laughter and tears to the reader and the quality of the writing will live on in the readers’ mind long after finishing this original novel.
It's 1893 and for Cissy and her family, a new life beckons on the prairies of Oklahoma and they and their fellow settlers prepare for steady business alongside the Red Rock Railroad track. But when they refuse to sell their land to the railroad company, the boss swears that his trains will never stop in Florence again. How will they ever make a living now? Cissy and her friends, family and neighbours vow that they will make the train stop - by whatever means are necessary, no matter how dangerous that may prove to be.
'...a tense, fast-moving adventure story, sustained to the very last page, with an inspiring sense of community spirit.' Financial Times
'With its great depth and texture, its masterful dialogue and description it is the work of a great writer which will move readers to tears and laughter. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.' Times Educational Supplement
'For a really good read, look no further than this excellent, unpredictable and engrossing novel from a genuine master of the imagination.' The Independent
Author
About Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughrean is one of today's most successful and highly regarded children's authors. She has won the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children's Book Award (three times), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Smarties Bronze Award (four times) and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Geraldine lives in Berkshire with her husband, daughter and golden retriever, Daisy.Read more about the author here.
'I reckon Geraldine McCaughrean knocks the socks off every other children's writer today. Everything she does is different and everything works – look at her list of prizes. She must write in tremendous bursts. Some years, she's so prolific the rest of us start joking that the fairies come in at night to do her work for her. Then she'll go quiet, so unlike all those writers who are persuaded by their publishers to come up with something every year, no matter how tired or drab. If Geraldine has nothing fresh to write, she doesn't write it.' (The Guardian)
