Harklights

"A charming fairytale adventure with an enduring ecological message." Peter Bunzl, author of Cogheart Wick has always lived in the dark and dreadful Harklights Match Factory and Orphanage, working tirelessly for greedy Old Ma Bogey. He only dreams of escaping, until one day a bird drops something impossible and magical at his feet - a tiny baby in an acorn cradle... As midnight chimes, Wick is visited by the Hobs, miniature protectors of the forest. Grateful for the kindness shown to their stolen child, they offer Wick the chance of a lifetime - escape from Harklights and begin a new life with them in the wild... Winner of the Joan Aiken Future Classics Prize, Harklights is a magical story celebrating family, friendship and the natural world, filled with a message of hope for our times. All his life, Wick has been raised in the brutal Harklights Match Factory and Orphanage, run by the monstrous Old Ma Bogey. But when he finds and rescues a tiny baby, small enough to fit inside an acorn, he is visited by the Hobs, a miniature race of people who are also caretakers of the forest. They are so grateful to Wick that they offer him the chance of a lifetime - to escape from Harklights and begin a new life with them in the wild..