Books by Piers Torday
A former theatre and television producer, Piers Torday’s award-winning and bestselling books for children include The Last Wild series (Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize), There May Be a Castle (Times Children's Book of the Year), The Lost Magician (Teach Primary Book Award) and The Frozen Sea. His latest book is Midnight Treasure (New Statesman Children's Book of the Year). His work has been translated into 14 languages.
The son of Paul Torday (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), he completed his father’s final unfinished novel, The Death of an Owl and co-founded the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for Debut Novelists over 60.
He has contributed short stories to Winter Magic and Return to Wonderland.
Plays include the world premiere stage adaptation of John Masefield’s The Box of Delights (RSC), Christmas Carol, The Child in the Snow and The Wind in the Wilton's. (Wilton’s Music Hall.) There May be a Castle has been adapted for the stage by the Little Angel Theatre.
978-1-78087-828-7
THE LAST WILD
This is the story of a boy named Kester. He is extraordinary, but he doesn't know that yet. All he knows, at the moment is this: 1. There is a flock of excited pigeons in his bedroom. 2. They are talking to him. 3. His life will never be the same...
978-1786540515
THE LOST MAGICIAN
‘If you can imagine it, it exists … somewhere.’
The new spellbinding fantasy adventure from the award-winning author of The Last Wild trilogy.
1945. They have survived the Blitz, but when Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry step through a mysterious library door, it is the beginning of their most dangerous adventure yet. They discover the magical world of Folio, where an enchanted kingdom of fairy knights, bears and tree gods is under threat from a sinister robot army.
The many stories of the Library are locked in eternal war, and the children’s only hope is to find their creator – a magician who has been lost for centuries.
What they discover will change not just their own lives, but the fate of the world, for ever …
9781786541420
MIDNIGHT TREASURE
breathtaking new fantasy world from the award-winning author of The Last Wild. In an empire of vampirs and werwolves, Tibor and Roza are hunting a treasure more valuable than gold ... For readers who loved Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures or S.F. Said's Tyger.
Tibor is a child of the night, a werwolf, adopted by his guardian, a powerful vampir. He and his friend Roza are on the deadliest of quests, and one that will test their very immortality. And they're not the only ones hunting for the Midnight Treasure. Battling with bears, wrestling with vampirs and racing against the clock, Tibor and Roza must decide who to trust. And whether they will dare reveal the secrets ... of the Midnight Treasure.
From the award-winning Piers Torday comes this spectacular, irresistible treasure hunt: there will be clues, spells, imprisonments and escapes, fights, betrayals ... but above all there will be courage and hope.
978-1848668621
THERE MAY BE A CASTLE
Eleven-year-old Mouse is travelling to see his grandparents on Christmas Eve with his mother and two sisters. But it’s snowing, and visibility is bad, and the car goes off the road, and crashes.
Mouse is thrown from the car.
When he wakes, he’s not in his world any more. He meets a sheep named Bar, who can only say Baaa, and a sarcastic horse named Nonky, who is a surprising mix of his beloved toy horse and his older sister.
So begins a quest to find a castle in a world of wonder – a world of monsters, minstrels, dangerous knights and mysterious wizards; a world of terrifying danger but also more excitement than Mouse has ever known.
But why are they looking for a castle? As the cold grows, we realise it might just have something to do with the family he’s left behind; and that Mouse’s quest is more important than ever.
This is a novel about the power of stories to change the way we view the world – and it’s about the power of a child to change their own world. Emotionally arresting but ultimately uplifting, this is a remarkable novel for our times.
9780571390151
THE BOX OF DELIGHTS
Adapted by Piers Today from John Masefield’s classic children’s novel, this festive production opened at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in October 2023, based on the original staging at Wilton’s Music Hall, London, 2017.
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