Mortlock

The sister is a knife thrower in a magician's stage act, the brother is an undertaker's assistant. Neither orphan knows of the other's existence. Until, that is, three terrible Aunts descend on the girl's house and imprison her guardian, the Great Cardamom. His dying act is to pass the girl a note with clues to the secret he has carried to his grave. Cardamom was one of three explorers on an expedition to locate the legendary Amarant, a plant with power over life and death. Now, pursued by flesh-eating crow-like ghuls, brother and sister must decode the message and save themselves from its sinister legacy. Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror meets Indiana Jones. Mortlock is macabre, darkly humorous, masterfully written and . . . brilliant. A superlative adventure peppered with deadly thrills and traditional death rhymes Jon Mayhew is a man with a dark imagination, who has always loved writing and storytelling. An English teacher (to children and teenagers) for 20 years, he now works as a specialist teacher for children with autism. He has four children himself and, when neither teaching nor writing, he plays in ceilidh bands and runs marathons. Mortlock is his first novel. Jon lives between the ancient cities of Chester and Liverpool. Thirteen year-old Josie's guardian, the Great Cardomom, is killed by three mysterious aunts and Josie's set on a path to find her twin brother before they kill her too. When she finds her brother Alfie, the pair must then destroy a mystical plant, the Amarant, which has the power over life and death. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary Josie and Alfie are both orphans and they have never met, but they are about to be given a clue to the secret of their shared past