Award-winning storyteller Sir Michael Morpurgo brings his loyal readership a brand new novel this autumn, brought to life with line illustrations by Michael Foreman.

Boy Giant: Son of Gulliver is a heartwarming refugee story about hope and humanity in times of being without a place to call home. Omar is making the perilous journey across the sea to England after his home in Afghanistan has been devastated by war. After seeing his family torn apart, Omar and his mother walk for miles to reach the coastline in order to board a boat heading to a safer place to find refuge. Not having enough money to pay the fare for two, Mother persuades Omar to take the journey to England alone and wait for her there. Uncle Said owns a cafe on Fore Street, Mevagissey and Omar repeats the address over and over so that he doesn’t forget where to wait.

The sea journey is terrifyingly perilous and before long waves are crashing over the sides and Omar watches the boat fill with water as hope of being reunited with mother begins to fade. A powerful sea storm sees Omar losing consciousness and after a while he awakes on the shores of an island. Taking in the crowd of friendly and curious faces staring at him and hearing a few words that he recognises from his limited English, Omar dares to hope that he has reached England’s shores at last. There’s only one problem; the people here are small enough to fit in his hand and he is a mountainous giant by comparison. Omar soon realises much to his dismay that this is not England but the island of Lilliput, which keen-eyed readers may recognise from the story of Gulliver’s Travels set a few hundred years before. Now, the Lilliputians call Omar a ‘Son of Gulliver’ and welcome him with warmth and kindness. But Omar soon discovers that the island is under threat, and the peace-making legacy of Gulliver from the past needs his help to be restored.

This is a gripping story offering an original twist on a well-loved classic. The story of Gulliver is cleverly leaned upon in both structure and narrative and the revisiting of Lilliput is delightful to those familiar with the details and themes of Gulliver’s Travels. Importantly, it does not matter that the majority of young readers will be unfamiliar with the original, as Morpurgo explains all the necessary background through the story.

With important themes of reconciliation, kindness to strangers and the devastating effects of war, this is a thrilling read that raises questions about whether humanity will ever learn from its past as well as being an imaginatively-rendered encouragement to individuals to seek reconciliation over conflict in everyday situations.