Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2011. Shortlisted for the Waterstone's Book Award 2010
An exciting adventure with some excellent magical powers at its heart. Life is hard for Will growing up in the chilly atmosphere of Crowfield Abbey. He’s hungry and cold most of the time and although the monks take care of him they can in no way make up for the loss of his family. But everything changes for Will when he rescues a Hob from a cruel trap and finds himself playing a key role in solving an ancient mystery.
Titles shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2011:
It's 1347 and fifteen-year-old Will, an orphan boy, lives at Crowfield Abbey. Sent into the forest to gather wood, he instead rescues a creature from a trap - a hob, who shares with Will a terrible secret. Somewhere in the forest behind the abbey where he lives is a grave - and buried deep in the snow is an angel. But how can an angel die? What has it to do with the monks of the Abbey? When two hooded strangers arrive at Crowfield asking questions about the angel's grave, Will is drawn into a world of dangerous Old Magic. The Crowfield Curse was short-listed for the Times Chidren's Fiction Competition in 2008 (under its previous title, The Crowfield Feather). This is a stunning debut novel and the first of a two part series.
Pat Walsh, author of The Crowfield Curse, was the runner up in the 2008 Times Chicken House Writing Competition. She was born in a haunted house in Kent and spent her early years in West Africa and Ireland, before her family settled in Leicestershire. At the age of nine, Pat decided she wanted to be an archaeologist, going on her first dig at twelve. Now fully trained, she’s still digging to this day! However, her first love is writing and she finds her inspiration in mythology and folklore, and in Britain’s rich historical heritage. She now lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and two children.