Book description
The sister is a knife thrower in a magician's stage act, the brother is
an undertaker's assistant. Neither orphan knows of the other's
existence. Until, that is, three terrible Aunts descend on the girl's
house and imprison her guardian, the Great Cardamom. His dying act is to
pass the girl a note with clues to the secret he has carried to his
grave. Cardamom was one of three explorers on an expedition to locate
the legendary Amarant, a plant with power over life and death. Now,
pursued by flesh-eating crow-like ghuls, brother and sister must decode
the message and save themselves from its sinister legacy. â  An
accomplished page-turner . . . lighthanded, scary fun, with some sibling
bickering thrown in' Jon Mayhew is a man with a dark imagination, who
has always loved writing and storytelling. An English teacher (to
children and teenagers) for 20 years, he now works as a specialist
teacher for children with autism. He has four children himself and, when
neither teaching nor writing, he plays in ceilidh bands and runs
marathons.
Mortlock
is his first novel and has been shortlisted for the Waterstone s
Children s Book Prize. Jon lives between the ancient cities of Chester
and Liverpool.
