The captivating cfhildren's novel that attracted a movie deal even before the book was written.

The Wonderling set for October release.

The captivating novel that attracted a movie deal even before the book was written.

Exquisitely written and with a deft nod to Dickensian heroes and rogues, Mira Bartok’s debut children’s novel, The Wonderling, is set for an October release through Walker Books.

Having generated a fantastic publishing story even before the book was written, The Wonderling attracted a seven-figure movie deal from Fox 2000 with Tony-winning and Oscar-nominated Stephen Daldry (The Crown) as director.

Reminiscent of classic literary odysseys and the best of contemporary fantasy, with a sprinkling of steampunk, The Wonderling opens in a thrillingly dreadful orphanage for young groundlings – part creature, part human. In this Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures all pleasures, especially music, are forbidden. Arthur, the hero of the story, is a young one-eared fox-like groundling and yearns for friendship and love. All he has is a half memory of a special song that will lead him to his destiny. After staging a daring escape with the help of a small mechanical bird, Trinket, he sets off on a glorious adventure through forest and wild country, to the shiny city of Lumentown, ruled over by the High Hats. Here he will discover the mysterious Songcatcher and unlock the secrets of his past.

Written in stunning prose and decorated with Mira’s exquisite illustrations, The Wonderling is a hugely enjoyable and original fantasy filled with vivid and eccentric characters and a plot that twists and turns. You will find echoes of King Arthur, Dickens and Kenneth Grahame; you will find brave mice in armour, and giant crows that terrorise the skies; you will find innocence, humour, hope and, ultimately, triumph.

Says Bartók, “I wanted this book to feel as realistic as a Dickens novel would, only there happens to be characters who are part animal, part human, and there’s a touch of magic here and there.  I tried to introduce the magic slowly. The most important thing to me, no matter what the genre is, is that the book has a lot of heart.

“I think reading a good book is a lot like falling in love, so I guess I want them [readers] to fall in love with my little guys and our characters … and I’m always hoping that whatever I write creates room for empathy within someone.”

Author of the New York Times bestselling memoir The Memory Palace (2011), Mira Bartók has been recovering from a traumatic brain injury which she suffered in 1999 when a semi-trailer on a New York State Highway plowed into a car she was riding in. Thus commenced a long journey, learning how to paint, read, write and even speak again.

Since then, her writing for adults has been noted in The Best American Essays series and has appeared in More magazine, Psychology Today and several literary magazines and anthologies. She is a frequent commentator for New England Public Radio. The Wonderling is her first novel for young readers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mira Bartók is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir The Memory Palace, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. Mira Bartók has written and illustrated numerous nonfiction titles for children and has also edited and translated several picture books in Italian, Norwegian and Sámi (Lapp). Mira Bartók received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has an MFA in painting from the University of Illinois as well as an MFA in fiction and creative nonfiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her writing for adults has been noted in The Best American Essays series and has appeared in More magazine, Psychology Today and several literary magazines and anthologies. Mira Bartók lives in Western Massachusetts.

 

HB: 9781406370645 * $24.99 ($27.99 NZD)

Ages 10–14 * 464 pages. Also available as an e-book and in audio