Tabitha Plimtock and the Edge of the World

Tabitha lives with her ‘family’ at the edge of the world; however, they are only family because she was left on their doorstep as a baby.  The Plimtocks are perhaps the most revolting family that you are ever likely to come across, even Roald Dahl would shudder at some of their behaviour.  Tabitha is treated as a servant and every day she has to collect all of their food, do the cooking and cleaning and generally clear up after grandmother Bertha and the three cousins Gower, Gristle and Wilbur.  In order to get their food Tabitha has to climb down the cliff at the edge of the world and collect plants, eggs and other items from the people who live in a variety of caves down there.  Life is tough but then it starts to get even worse.  Something is on the move, gradually climbing from the bottom of the cliff and starting to eat the plants and animals as they go.  Can Tabitha and her friends prevent this catastrophe, or is their life about to be destroyed?

This is a truly amazing story, with a heroine that deserves all of the support that we can give her.  The environment that the author has created is very bleak, but she leaves us with the thought that if we don’t look after our world, then things will inevitably get even worse.  Given the situation that we all find ourselves in at the moment this seems a very opportune lesson to be learnt. The author is Irish and has won a number of awards, but she definitely deserves to be better known on this side of the Irish Sea.  In this book she has taken fantasy to an extreme, but it works beautifully and makes you want to read more about the inhabitants of this amazing place.  It is a funny and exciting read for those in KS2.