The Boy with the Tiger’s Heart

When the security guards come for Thomas Bailey, to shoot or confiscate the animals he keeps, they find him dead and the wild girl who lived with him gone. Brought up by a pack of dogs she is able to look after herself. But the hunt is on – where can she go. A meeting with two boys, Caius and Jay, gives her a purpose and a name. Together they will escape to The Edge and maybe there they will find freedom. But will it be what they want?

Linda Coggin is a powerful new voice and has written a powerful fable for our time. Taking a dystopian setting she imagines a community that has outlawed danger – the forest has been cut down, the animals killed or captured, children are tethered until they are seven and people get their excitement from circus acts and shooting stuffed beasts. Most people conform, controlled by the sadistic Bolverk. But what if like Nona you want to be free – or are like Jay whose body has been remade? The journey taken by the three friends is full of danger and knife-edge escapes; their relationships are not  straightforward while over all looms the threat of Bolverk who like Jay has a body created by technology. An assured storytelling style drives the plot along creating a sense of urgency and demanding attention. The ending brings a satisfactory conclusion – or does it? This is not a fairy tale; freedom may not be happy ever after. Fans of Piers Torday or Sonia Hartnett will find much to recognise and recommend. An author to watch.