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Author & Illustrators

Steve McCarthy Books

Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, and Steve McCarthy, author and illustrator of the award-winning The Wilderness, join forces to turn a familiar myth of Irish folklore into a truly powerful, unforgettable and universal story of love, perseverance and friendship against all odds.

Banshees are supernatural Irish harbingers of doom, but … where do they come from? The answer: they grow in pods on the prickly gorse bush. The sole job of a baby banshee, a “bansheenie” as they are called, is to bond with a human. Once bonded, they know everything about that person. Most importantly … when they will die. Our bansheenie, named Beanie, is no ordinary herald of death. When she sees her person, a little girl called Rose, she decides to change her own – and Rose’s – fate, and instead of delivering bad news, Beanie wants to protect Rose and her family. When her banshee’s howl of doom won’t work, she must draw power and strength from the ancient secrets and hidden networks of the natural world around her. She must create a brand new sound, a new way of being in the world that will change … everything.

This is a real adventure book, so be careful not to get too lost between its pages…
The Vasylenko family are adventurers. They all love the wet and the wild, the thrill of exploring the outside world. All that is … except Oktober. He prefers the warm and safe comfort of the inside world, and for his adventures to take place between the pages of a book. But tomorrow, Oktober has to join his family on a trek into the slimy, grimy and climby wild, where he sees only danger and worry and fears a creature called “The Wilderness”! Failing to keep his wits about him could be dangerous though – it may even get him a bit … lost. But perhaps getting lost is just what Oktober needs to find himself and maybe even make an unexpected friend.

The Wilderness is a wild and wondrous story of true bravery and discovering friendship in the most unexpected of places, perfect for adventurers and the more timid alike.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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