Runemarks [Hardcover]

This book has a great opening sentence: "Seven o'clock on a Monday morning, 500 years after the End of the World, and goblins had been at the cellar again." Joanne Harris, best known as the author of Chocolat, is good at beginnings and pay-offs: each of the chapters in this nine-part fantasy epic has a punchy finish that makes you want to read on. This is despite the complexity of the story, which is based on Norse myth and uses elaborate geography and hierarchies. Maddy Smith, the novel's young heroine, who was born with a rusty-coloured rune mark on her hand, has powers that make her an outsider in her village, where dream, imagination and magic are frowned upon. A nasty incident in the cellar, however, throws Maddy into the company of Norse gods, goblins and monsters, revisiting the 500-year-old conflict of Ragnarok in which the Old Order of deities was overthrown and a rigid, puritanical regime came into force. Identities and loyalties shift as the plot thickens. Especially enjoyable are Harris's aphorisms, her satire of joyless piety, and the comically irreverent vernacular spoken by a dissolute goblin and the trickster god Loki --The Sunday Times, August 27th 2007

Maddy Smith is a girl who has got it bad. Born with the runemark of the title on her hand, she is an oddball in her village, befriended only by a mysterious old man called One-Eye, who teaches her all she knows of magic. Unlike ordinary humans, Maddy can see goblins, and knows that where her friend's glam (magic) is weak, hers is strong, though quite how strong she only discovers when she goes underground and meets a young man who calls himself Lucky. Before long Maddy is coping with the reawakened Sleepers, formerly Norse gods. Together with a pleasingly cynical oracular head called The Whisperer, who has plans of his own, she has to prevent the Nine Worlds from descending into Chaos.

Ever since Chocolat, Harris has played with the idea that magic might actually work, and it was only a matter of time before she, like many other adult authors, wrote a book for children. Her enjoyment at being able to go the whole hog is palpable, and her dramatic story rollocks along for 536 pages, with magical transformations, nets of blue fire and a spunky heroine.

Seven o'clock, on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again...Maddy Smith was born with a rusty-coloured ruinmark on her hand - a symbol of the old gods and definitely cause for suspicion. For magic is dangerous. Or so everyone thinks. But Maddy enjoys working magic. Even if it is just to control some pesky goblins. And every time her friend, One-Eye - a good-for-nowt Outlander - comes by, he teaches her more and more about the gods and the runes. Now he wants Maddy to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below to retrieve a relic of the old gods. Otherwise it is likely to be the End of Everything. Again...An epic romp into the heart of the old Norse tales: wild, dangerous, richly inventive and superbly imaginative.

They call it a ruinmark . . .

Maddy Smith – born with a rusty-coloured rune shape on her hand – has always been an outsider in her village. For the good folk of Malbry believe a ruinmark to be a symbol of the old gods, a mark of magic.And that, as everyone knows, is the road to Chaos. Dangerous.

But Maddy enjoys working magic, even if it is just to control some pesky goblins. And every time he visits, her best friend – a good-for-nowt Outlander known as One-Eye – has been teaching her more and more about the old ways: about gods and glamours, runes and cantrips.

Now One-Eye is back again, and he wants her to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below to retrieve a relic of the old gods.

Otherwise – apparently - it could be the End of Everything. Again . .

An epic runic romp into the heart of the old Norse tales: wild, dangerous, richlyinventive and superbly imaginative.

'If Joanne Harris didn't exist, someone would have to invent her' Jenni Murray, Sunday Express

'She is so terrific, she can write about anywhere, anything, anyone' Daily Telegraph

Joanne Harris is the author of the Whitbread-shortlisted Chocolat (made into a major film starring Juliette Binoche), Blackberry Wine, Five Quarters of the Orange, Coastliners, Holy Fools, Jigs & Reels, Sleep Pale Sister, Gentlemen & Players and, with Fran Warde, The French Kitchen: A Cookbook and The French Market: More Recipes from a French Kitchen. She lives in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, with her husband and daughter. Runemarks is her first children's novel.