Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner

Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner

Elliot was beaten up by bullies at his old school. He is determined to reinvent himself at the new school. This time he will be so cool that no one will touch him. But he is too successful. He is taken up by the Guardians, the mysterious group who control the whole school, manipulating others to create a reign of terror. He is invited to become a Guardian himself and goes along with it. He is not going to get hurt again, whatever it takes. Until he realizes that he is as good as dead unless he takes the risk of standing up for himself. Written with great power and economy, this psychological novel was inspired by George Orwell's 1984 and is reminiscent of those two great children's writers Robert Cormier and Robert Westall. It has strong characters, strong moral dilemmas and a story that moves at a great pace to a highly dramatic ending. It is an incisive and compelling look at the terrors and rituals of adolescence and you're there with Elliot every step of the way.

REVIEWS "..taut with menace from the very first page...powerfully plotted, compactly written" Dinah Hall, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "[Graham Gardner's] very assured first novel may not please some parents or teachers looking for more positive messages, but for teenagers in search of a goog wallow in someone else's depression, it can hardly be faulted." Nicholas Tucker, THE INDEPENDENT "fresh and compelling" Lindsey Fraser in GUARDIAN EDUCATION "It's no mean feat to invoke readers' sympathy, fear, curiosity and fury simultaneously but Gardner achieves just that in a compulsively readdable story with huge appeal" TIME OUT "...a moving and subtle story...beautifully but unflashily [written]" Adele Geras, THE GUARDIAN "A taut and compelling novel" THE FINANCIAL TIMES"The vocabulary and writing style are fresh, fluent and well tailored to thetarget audience...Elliot's thoughts are presented with such vivid candour asto grip the reader from page one" THE HERALD "...a developing scenario, which at its coldest and most intense has echoes of Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War" Robert Dunbar, THE IRISH TIMES "Once you start, you will not be able to put this gripping and gritty read down!" THE SUNDAY TIMES "Gardner's first novel is astonishingly good." BRISTOL EVENING POST "A powerful first novel full of psychological realism" Lesley Agnew, THE BOOKSELLER (teenage feature) "Graham Gardner's first novel, Inventing Elliot is tight and assured and marksthe arrival of an important new talent." Wendy Cooling, THE BOOKSELLER (children's previews) INTERVIEWS Interview on ONEWORD Radio, also to be broadcast on LBCGraham was the first children's author to be interviewed on BETWEEN THELINES Interview on BBC HEREFORD & WORCESTER - Graham's local station Pre-publication interview on WELSH DIGITAL NEWS NETWORK EVENTS Book signings at HARRODS, FOYLES, HATCHARDS, WATERSTONE'S PICCADILLY, LEDBURY BOOKS & MAPS

Graham Gardner is 26, the second of ten children. He has worked as a shop assistant, a waiter, a factory worker, a civil servant, and a research officer, and is now completing his Ph D at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of Wales. He is also a keen musician, playing rock and classical piano. He lives partly in Aberystwyth and partly at his parents' house in the Malvern Hills.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781842552636
ISBN 10	1842552635
Title	Inventing Elliot
Author	Graham Gardner
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Hachette Children's Group
Year published	2003-03-06
Number of pages	192
Prizes	Short-listed for Salford Book Award 2005
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable