Linda Newbery has previously been shortlisted for both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. She is a well-known and respected author. Pitched at the 9 plus age group where there is an acknowledged lack of really good books. Thoughtful and sensitive writing with real insight, strong characters and storyline. AT THE FIREFLY GATE reprinted before publication and was an Ottakar's Book of the Month.

'a marvellously gripping mystery... the landscape around Hay-on-Wye is both the setting and and an atmospheric element of the tale.' THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN 'cleverly crafted... she manages to keep the reader focused on the plot and evoke some beautiful imagery of the surrounding countryside. Thoroughly recommended.' -- Lorraine Foster INIS (IRELAND)

Linda enjoys researching her novels and besides a great deal of background reading has travelled for research purposes to Dublin, the Wicklow Mountains, Normandy, and the First World War battlefields in France and Belgium. She's also jumped out of a Cessna aeroplane at 2,000 feet, boarded a wartime Lancaster bomber, and overcome a fear of heights to go climbing in the Lake District. Linda lives in rural Northamptonshire with her husband and cats. Apart from writing, she spends time reading, gardening, swimming, going to the cinema and theatre, and walking, especially in mountainous places like Wales, the Lake District and the West of Ireland.