Book description
Cat Manno and her grandfather Victor made a pact that one day, just for
the hell of it, they'd take the subway and stay on the A-train until the
very end of the line where the last narrow spit of land runs out into
the ocean at Far Rockaway. This isn't that day. On the first page Cat is
knocked down by a speeding fire truck whilst crossing 55th St and 3rd
Ave in Central Manhattan. She wakes up in a world made from all the
books her grandfather used to read to her, peopled by some of the most
memorable heroes of classic adventure fiction, brought vividly back to
life. Cat must earn their friendship and help as she begins an odyssey
and epic quest to find the mythic Castle at the World's End. And the
name of that distant, mythic, wave-tumbled fastness? It is, of course,
the castle of Far Rockaway ... If you enjoy reading good books;
swashbuckling adventures with sword fights and pirates - then Far
Rockaway is the book for you. Join Cat as she embarks on the journey of
a lifetime ... Having studied English Literature at university ,
Charlie began his career in the film business carrying cans of film
round Soho and making very bad cups of tea on the principal that he'd
then be asked to do something a bit more interesting, a strategy that he
recommends to anyone starting out as a tea-boy. He progressed to the BBC
where he worked in film editing on everything from Drama to Current
Affairs. He then went to California where he morphed into a
screenwriter, having been awarded a Warner Brothers Fellowship in
Screenwriting at USC School of Cinema and TV. He's written screenplays
for Tri-Star, MGM, Paramount and Warner Bros among others. He continues
to write for the movies, and also television. He still thinks that being
a film editor is a pretty damn fine way to learn about story-telling in
general, and narrative structure and pacing in particular. Charlie also
moved into other types of writing including magazine features, a
computer game and as both a national Sunday newspaper columnist and
restaurant reviewer. Finally he found the way to combine all those
writing strands and produced some rattling-good children's books! The
Stoneheart trilogy has been a massive international hit and Charlie has
recently sold the movie rights of Stoneheart to Paramount. He has also
been asked to write the screenplay himself, which just shows you should
never make plans, since he actually wrote the books to get away from
Hollywood for a bit... In his personal life, Charlie met and married his
wife, a fellow Scot, in LA. They have two children, whom Charlie calls
his first, most important, and toughest audience. They've all now
returned from California and live in Edinburgh with a terrier called
Archie.
