Review
'subversive, funny and imaginative' (The Memory Prisoner) (The Observer )
'funny and tragic, but always gripping' (The Memory Prisoner) (The London Parents Guide )
'Bloor is to be congratulated on creating a genuine heroine, stout in courage, as well as size.' (The Memory Prisoner) (Nick Tucker, The Independent )
'If Royston Vasey had had a public library it might have resembled the one in Thomas Bloor's The Memory Prisoner... Bloor never wastes a word communicating his nightmare, contriving all at once to be moving, alarming and funny. It takes a while to adjust to the extreme oddity of this short novel as there is nothing to compare it with. Sooner or later someone is going to mention Kafka, but I will eschew the K word except to remark that what most people forget about Kafka is his lethal matter-of-factness.' (Jan Mark, TES )
'...a bizarrely comic account ...' (The Memory Prisoner) (The Guardian )
'a dark gothic fantasy, reminiscent of Mervyn Peake' (The Memory Prisoner) (The Herald )
'funny and tragic, but always gripping' (The Memory Prisoner) (The London Parents Guide )
'Bloor is to be congratulated on creating a genuine heroine, stout in courage, as well as size.' (The Memory Prisoner) (Nick Tucker, The Independent )
'If Royston Vasey had had a public library it might have resembled the one in Thomas Bloor's The Memory Prisoner... Bloor never wastes a word communicating his nightmare, contriving all at once to be moving, alarming and funny. It takes a while to adjust to the extreme oddity of this short novel as there is nothing to compare it with. Sooner or later someone is going to mention Kafka, but I will eschew the K word except to remark that what most people forget about Kafka is his lethal matter-of-factness.' (Jan Mark, TES )
'...a bizarrely comic account ...' (The Memory Prisoner) (The Guardian )
'a dark gothic fantasy, reminiscent of Mervyn Peake' (The Memory Prisoner) (The Herald )
The London Parents Guide
'funny and tragic, but always gripping' (The Memory Prisoner)
Nick Tucker, The Independent
'Bloor is to be congratulated on creating a genuine heroine, stout in courage, as well as size.' (The Memory Prisoner)
The Guardian
'...a bizarrely comic account ...' (The Memory Prisoner)
The Herald
'a dark gothic fantasy, reminiscent of Mervyn Peake' (The Memory Prisoner)
Product Description
Rosh is not impressed when he is sent to stay with his cousin Jack and family for a holiday in Scotland, while his parents look after his Gran. Somehow, he is persuaded to hire a rowing boat with Jack, but they capsize just off the coast. Luckily there is an island within swimming distance. Clambering ashore, they find themselves in the midst of a funeral for a pet lion. Even the oil paintings in the house of their rescuer are not as they seem. Things get even stranger when they discover that there is a game, a nightmarish twist on cricket, which involves chaining strangers to big posts and pelting them with stones, giving them only flimsy sticks to ward off the rocks...
About the Author
Thomas Bloor is the winner of the 1999 Fidler Award for a first novel for 8-12 year old children. He is a part-time Special Educational Needs Assistant and lives in East London with his wife and two daughters. As well as writing, he paints, sculpts and puts together short films.
