Che Golden - The Feral Child - A Dark Faerie Tale Preview

                            

Her curtains were hung on a pole and there was a slight gap between the fabric and the window, enough for her to peer out without touching the curtain, if she pressed her face hard against the wall.
She could feel the cold puff of a draught on her lips and see a sliver of the outside world with her right eye, the pearly glow of the white painted sill and a slice of the velvety dark beyond it. But it was enough. There was someone at her window all right, some one with a long white hand that seemed to have too many joints and yellow, pointed fingernails..."
 “Some thing was scraping the glass, long strokes down the length of the pane that hissed in the quiet of her room. She put a hand on George to get him to be quiet but the dog still kept his black lips peeled back from his teeth as she crawled across the bed to the windowsill.

THE FERAL CHILD is a scary faerie story set in present day Ireland and draws much of its source material from Celtic tales. Orphaned by a car accident, the heroine Maddy finds herself forced to live permanently with her grandparents in Blarney, County Cork. One night a young child goes missing and Maddy discovers a conspiracy of silence amongst the adults. An ancient threat in the grounds of Blarney Castle dominates the tiny village. Furious with the adults around her, Maddy sets off to rescue the missing child with the help of her two cousins.

Part adventure, part horror, THE FERAL CHILD brings ancient Irish faerie tales to life in all their grim glory. But the central theme of the story is one of identity and home. Maddy discovers rescuing others is the easy bit – finding her own way home proves to be much, much harder.
THE FERAL CHILD is an astonishing debut by a major new talent in children’s fantasy. It will be published by Quercus children’s books in January 2012, followed by the second book in the trilogy, THE UNICORN HUNT Autumn 2012 and THE RAVEN QUEEN in 2013.

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