Pigeon Summer (10 page)

It is 1930, the height of the Great Depression.

Mary Dyer’s father has left home in search of work, leaving his beloved racing pigeons in Mary’s care – much to her mother’s disapproval. During that long, hard summer there is barely enough money for bread, let alone pigeon feed, yet Mary clings to her dreams of racing glory, propelling her into ever deeper conflict with her mother.

Shortlisted for the 1992 Smarties Book Prize and the WH Smith Mind Boggling Books Award, as well as being dramatized for TV.

“A wonderfully moving story … I would recommend it to anyone”

Independent on Sunday

“Buoyant, direct and unsentimental”

Guardian

In the mining town of Culverton, workers are clashing with their bosses. Lennie’s father is the Union secretary, a “troublemaker”.

Ralph’s father is the boss, despised by his workers. Despite their very different backgrounds, Lennie and Ralph strike up a friendship, a happy escape from their own and their families’ troubles. But how strong is their alliance – really? While his dad fights injustice at the mine, Lennie finds that he too must battle prejudice, lies and betrayal, pushing his friendship with Ralph swiftly towards breaking point.

“A brilliant book which should be at the top of every 9 to 12 year old’s reading list”

Sunday Telegraph

When her older sisters leave home, Doreen gets a room of her own – at last! But it’s 1941, the cities are threatened by Nazi air raids and, to Doreen’s dismay, Mum has decided to take in an evacuee. Rhoda Kelly is a year older than Doreen, has a boyfriend in the Army and, worse still, is a talented singer. Forced to share a room – and the limelight – tensions grow between the two girls, erupting finally into bitter conflict, with potentially tragic consequences.

“The sharply drawn wartime poverty will thrill readers of nine and up”

The Times

“A lovely book for ten year olds plus”

Sunday Telegraph

1662. England is reeling from the after-effects of civil war, with its clashes of faith and culture.

Seventeen-year-old Will returns home after completing his studies, to begin an apprenticeship arranged by his wealthy father. Susanna, a young Quaker girl, leaves her family to become a servant in the same town. Theirs is a story that speaks across the centuries, telling of love and the struggle to stay true to what is most important – in spite of parents, society and even the law. But is the love between Will and Susanna strong enough to survive – no matter what?

Shortlisted for the Whitbread Book Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize

“Here is a novel that needs a trumpet to be blown for it… Exact and elegant language takes you to the heart of each character’s feeling”

The Guardian

“Frequently moving and unwaveringly honest”

Carousel

London 1665–66. With the plague raging and the scent of smoke upon the wind, Will and Susanna, separated by class and distance, struggle to reunite. Will has become a Quaker and broken with his father. Leaving Susanna behind in Shropshire, he travels to London, swearing to send for her once he is settled. But Will is arrested and thrown in gaol for standing up for his beliefs. This, along with the rapidly spreading plague and a dire misunderstanding, conspire to keep the lovers apart…

1683. Inspired by William Penn’s vision of a Quaker colony and hoping to be free of the persecution they suffered in England, Will and Susanna Heywood have settled in Pennsylvania. Their son Josiah has found his own freedom, and adventure, in the employment of merchant George Bainbrigg, whose daughter, Kate, he has fallen in love with. It is only when the three travel to Barbados that Josiah learns the true nature of Bainbrigg’s work … and a painful struggle to uphold his beliefs begins
.

“A wonderfully moving story … I would recommend it to anyone.”

Independent on Sunday

“A sensitive, beautifully written story”

The Sunday Times

“Buoyant, direct and unsentimental”

Guardian

“A warm, engrossing story which resonates with quiet adventure”

Books for Keeps

“A remarkable story, steeped in the reality and politics of the time”

Junior Education

“Pigeon Summer is full of raw emotions, making it a book of power and passion.”

Julia Eccleshare

“Ann Turnbull’s style is of the deceptively simple kind which conceals art.”

Linda Newbery, School Librarian, US

Shortlisted for the 1992 Smarties Book Prize and the WH Smith Mind Boggling Books Award

Ann Turnbull grew up in south-east London but now lives in Shropshire. She has always loved reading and knew from the age of ten that she wanted to be an author. Her numerous books for children include
Alice in Love and War, A Long Way Home
and
House of Ghosts
, as well as her Quaker trilogy –
No Shame, No Fear
(shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Book Award and Whitbread Award)
Forged in the Fire
and
Seeking Eden
. For younger children, she has also written
Greek Myths
, illustrated by Sarah Young.

Local history was the inspiration behind the powerful and poignant trilogy of books about a mining family, the Dyers.
Pigeon Summer, No Friend of Mine
and
Room For a Stranger
follow the family and its fortunes from 1930 through to the early years of the Second World War.
Pigeon Summer
has been dramatized for TV and radio as well as being shortlisted for the Smarties Book Prize and the WH Smith Mind Boggling Books Award.

Find out more about Ann Turnbull and her books at
annturnbull.com
.