There were over 2000 entries in The Times/Chicken House Fiction Competition this year, and Northumberland children’s book author Lorna Windham has been recently notified that her story entitled “Toby’s Secret” had been selected to be in the Top 22.
According the reader’s report provided by the editorial panel for this competition, the key strengths of this story are:
“Told from Toby’s point of view, the story grips the attention of the reader through fast-paced, compelling, contemporary language, and the deep description of its characters through past and present events.
Many twists and turns, past relations and events make this story a page turner, appealing to boys and girls, but with a tendency to grip boys especially.
The story describes how the loss of morals affect all of us – it gives an insight into gang culture, and impression of fighting the war in Serbia and the fight against criminals.”
In this story, Toby is a boy from the back streets of London who runs with a gang called The Strepton Snake Boys. One day his father suddenly takes him to live with his grandfather, which Toby thinks is because of something he’s done. Toby befriends a group of local children and discovers more about himself and his family, and becomes involved in an adventure which brings him into contact with the supernatural and the world of international criminals.
Lorna Windham, the author of this fast-paced adventure novel, lives in Choppington in Northumberland. Lorna is an avid reader of the “Classics”
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Extracts from Toby’s Secret can be found on Lorna Windham’s website:
http://www.lornawindham.co.uk/
You can also contact the author directly at: lorna@
