The Cockatrice Boys [Hardcover]

The idea for this book is so sensational it could have come from The Sunday Sport: hideous demonic monsters invade England, laying it to waste and devouring most of the inhabitants. Embargoed by the rest of the world, the English barricade themselves underground until, after five years on the defensive, a counter attack is planned. The Cockatrice Belle, an armoured and heavily-armed train, is built to attack and, if possible, find the source of the plague. The train sets out for Manchester with her crack Cockatrice Corps crew, and by chance picks up Sauna, a young girl who embodies both cause and cure. Readers will be gripped by Joan Aiken's group of evocatively Dickensian and strange characters--Dakin, Clipspeak, Bellswinger and Tom Flint--as they follow their desperate bid to save England in this quirky, inventive fantasy. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"Readers will be reminded of "Alice in Wonderland". . .and the movie trilogy Star Wars."--"School Library Journal"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The setting is the near future, in a Britain terrorized by monsters. To survive, everyone has taken refuge underground. But Drummer Boy Dakin is sick of living in the strongroom of Barclays Bank, and so he joins the Cockatrice Corps as it sets out to fight the Principalities and Powers of Darkness. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.