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Nancy’s mother is having a baby and it is making her ill; Nancy’s father is angry with her mother because they can’t afford the baby; Nancy is angry with everyone.
Then she starts to see things … things that should only happen in fairytales. Is Buk a sign she is going mad or is he there to save her?
Alice in Wonderland meets Oscar Wilde – a modern day fable.
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Extract
As the extraordinary boy with ash hair stood up, he took hold of her hand ever so gently. And that was all it required. It was one of those unexpected moments when life seemed to freeze-frame. If Nancy had been looking at the scene through the lens of a webcam, she would have assumed that her laptop had just crashed. All noise around her abated and all the people, cars and buses stopped dead. Buk and Nancy now stood in their own bubble of space and time. ‘Hold this,’ he said offering her a corner of the Codice. ‘And look very carefully at this symbol here.’ Immediately as Nancy took the Codice, she felt a strange sensation up her arms and between her eyes. The Codice felt warm and soft, like skin. ‘It’s alive!’ she exclaimed in sudden realisation. ‘Shh,’ said Buk. ‘Just concentrate.’ Nancy looked where he was pointing and saw a letter, similar to an ‘Ω’, about halfway down the page. It reminded her of a gate. She felt a bit silly at first but the longer she looked at the letter on the page, the less self-conscious she felt and the more absorbed. The letter retreated, as the page around it grew larger until it filled her field of vision. She was standing in front of a large door a few inches from her nose and the door became a question. ‘What’s just happened?’ She could tell Buk was trying not to look too pleased with himself. ‘Push it,’ he said. Feeling like Alice, she gave the door a tentative prod. It didn’t budge. Buk smiled. ‘It’s quite heavy.’ ‘OK!’ Nancy gave the newly appeared door a whole-hearted shove and it swung open with a rush of vaguely familiar mulchy smells, revealing the same wooded path she had walked along in her dream from a few nights ago. A gentle gust of warm, wet air blew on her face and stirred her fringe just as she realised that there was never any wind in dreams. Apart from that, the scene before her was identical – the dark green light, the huge, ancient trees, the creepers and the moss that hung everywhere. Through the branches, she could see the gentle dip and sweep of a valley where tall grass grew, interspersed with bright red poppies. There were no hedgerows, or fences and no sign of any road nor, indeed, any human habitation. She stepped forward as Buk followed just behind her and heard the door swing shut with a satisfying thunk, much like their front door at home. ‘Where are we?’
Thank you, Robin Bennett and Monster Books
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About the author
Aged 21 he was all set to become a cavalry officer; aged 21 and a half, he found himself working as an assistant
gravedigger in south London wondering where it all went wrong. Robin has gone on to start and run over a dozen
successful businesses from dog-sitting to cigars, tuition to translation. The list is quite exhausting.
Robin is married with three young children. He spends his time between Pau in the Pyrenées and Henley-on-Thames
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Author Links
Twitter @writer_robin
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/robinbennettauthor/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MonsterBookstv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Monster-Books-1072958269463674/
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Book Links
https://www.monsterbooks.co.uk/middle-grade/buk
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B for Bookreview 