Anthony Masters – författare

Robinson Crusoe is the diary of a man shipwrecked on a desert island. He is alone for many years, but then cannibals arrive, bringing with them a prisoner. Can he rescue the prisoner? Will he ever escape from the island?Exciting and powerful classic stories to enrich and extend your children's reading experiences. TreeTops Classics are carefully adapted versions of must-read stories which introduce your readers to significant authors, powerful plots and characters that have stood the test of time. These abridged versions of classics have been sensitively adapted by top children's authors to ensure that language and content is appropriate, but remain faithful to the original. These enchanting stories will appeal to all your junior readers and introduce them to a rich literary heritage. Each book includes author biographies and notes to help with historical and social context and any challenging vocabulary, ensuring the books are easily accessible.Books contain inside cover notes to support children in their reading. Help with children's reading development also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk.The books are finely levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book.

'I couldn't imagine a better guidebook for making sense of a tragic and momentous time in our lives. Covid by Numbers is comprehensive yet concise, impeccably clear and always humane' Tim HarfordHow many people have died because of COVID-19? Which countries have been hit hardest by the virus? What are the benefits and harms of different vaccines? How does COVID-19 compare to the Spanish flu? How have the lockdown measures affected the economy, mental health and crime?This year we have been bombarded by statistics - seven day rolling averages, rates of infection, excess deaths. Never have numbers been more central to our national conversation, and never has it been more important that we think about them clearly. In the media and in their Observer column, Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter and RSS Statistical Ambassador Anthony Masters have interpreted these statistics, offering a vital public service by giving us the tools we need to make sense of the virus for ourselves and holding the government to account.In Covid by Numbers, they crunch the data on a year like no other, exposing the leading misconceptions about the virus and the vaccine, and answering our essential questions. This timely, concise and approachable book offers a rare depth of insight into one of the greatest upheavals in history, and a trustworthy guide to these most uncertain of times.

"Storyworlds Bridges" is a range of stories designed to help develop more fluent Year 2 readers and maintain their enthusiasm for reading. They challenge more confident readers by: introducing them to stories by significant children's authors; helping them to realize their full reading potential; and preparing them for the cjhallenges of Key Stage 2. "Storyworlds Bridges" can be used for guided or independent reading. This pack presents 12 storybooks, 12 guided reading cards and a bridges teaching guide.

This fantastic range of fiction for Shared, Guided and Independent reading gives you stories your children will love to read over and over again. Gaelic and Scottish teaching support also accompanies this reading series.

Pocket Tales is part of Pocket Reads, a superb collection of quality books that really capture children's imaginations! Pocket Reads have fantastic breadth and variety of genre, with Pocket Sci-Fi, Pocket Facts and Pocket Chillers making up the rest of the collection of independent readers. The fiction books are beautifully illustrated and are guaranteed to appeal to even the most reluctant of readers. The non-fiction readers are equally as stunning and will captivate and excite children with fascinating facts. The 105 pocket-sized fiction and non-fiction readers have each been carefully levelled to the National Curriculum and Book-Banded to ensure children make progression. You can therefore be assured that every reading experience is one that counts.

These ghostly adventures and spine-chilling stories are great for reads for reluctant readers. Written by well-known authors and illustrated by much-loved illustrators, this series will appeal to boys and girls.

The three men have been closely bonded ever since they made a remarkable escape from Occupied France in 1941. Now, in leafy Surrey, the Festival of Britain is being celebrated, but the atmosphere in the village where they all live is tense. A young gardener has been found with his throat cut.Martin Latimer and Peter Davis seem completely recovered from their traumatic wartime experiences and have settled comfortably into a life of cricket matches and church teas. Since his return from France, however, Tim Groves has changed completely. Gone is the brave and charismatic man Lucy married, replaced by a shadowy, nervous figure.Lucy is certain that Tim''s decline is due to the men''s experiences in France, but all three resolutely refuse to talk about what happened there, blaming the Official Secrets Act. Finally, driven to desperation by Tim''s anxious and withdrawn state, Lucy persuades him to return to France with her in order to retrace the dark events that broke him.At first, her plan appears to be working. Tim goes for a walk alone, something he hasn''t done for years. But when he doesn''t return that night, Lucy begins to fear the worst. Gradually the calamities of the war begin to emerge, and the comfortable Surrey lives of the men and their wives will never be the same again...

The storm rages. They huddle closer round the flames as the wind howls in the night.Another ghost story begins. But is the old house really deserted, or is something screaming in the darkness? Do you dare to find out?

It''s late at night. The fire''s burning low and something''s howling outside.Now it''s time for a ghost story. Just make sure you''re not on your own...

Hidden Gods: The Doorway is a metaphysical thriller in which two journalists, in an attempt to discover who or what is really behind the chaos in the Middle East, spin back through time to discover the secret codes of Atlantis. Their search for the grail begins with a night in the King''s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza...International news photographer Hugo Fitzroy, his schizophrenic son Brent and writer Phillipa Neville, have one vision in common - a great pyramid through whose portal shines a giant sunbeam. Inside, a miraculous escape is planned. Outside, planet earth is changing frequency.Against a background of the international intrigue surrounding the Gulf War and its aftermath, the visionary trio not only discover that they are being drawn inexorably towards the greatest secret the Middle East has ever kept, but also towards their own destinies. For Hugo, Brent and Phillipa have loved before, in other powerful identities, and now they have come to terms with this as well as their responsibilities to the hidden gods.

The three men have been closely bonded ever since they made a remarkable escape from Occupied France in 1941. Now, in leafy Surrey, the Festival of Britain is being celebrated, but the atmosphere in the village where they all live is tense. A young gardener has been found with his throat cut. Martin Latimer and Peter Davis seem completely recovered from their traumatic wartime experiences and have settled comfortably into a life of cricket matches and church teas. Since his return from France, however, Tim Groves has changed completely. Gone is the brave and charismatic man Lucy married, replaced by a shadowy, nervous figure. Lucy is certain that Tim's decline is due to the men's experiences in France, but all three resolutely refuse to talk about what happened there, blaming the Official Secrets Act. Finally, driven to desperation by Tim's anxious and withdrawn state, Lucy persuades him to return to France with her in order to retrace the dark events that broke him. At first, her plan appears to be working. Tim goes for a walk alone, something he hasn't done for years. But when he doesn't return that night, Lucy begins to fear the worst. Gradually the calamities of the war begin to emerge, and the comfortable Surrey lives of the men and their wives will never be the same again...

The storm rages. They huddle closer round the flames as the wind howls in the night.Another ghost story begins. But is the old house really deserted, or is something screaming in the darkness? Do you dare to find out?

It's Late At Night. The Fire's Burning Low and Something's Howling Outside.Now it's time for a ghost story. But just make sure you're not on your own...

Hidden Gods: The Doorway is a metaphysical thriller in which two journalists, in an attempt to discover who or what is really behind the chaos in the Middle East, spin back through time to discover the secret codes of Atlantis. Their search for the grail begins with a night in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza...International news photographer Hugo Fitzroy, his schizophrenic son Brent and writer Phillipa Neville, have one vision in common - a great pyramid through whose portal shines a giant sunbeam. Inside, a miraculous escape is planned. Outside, planet earth is changing frequency. Against a background of the international intrigue surrounding the Gulf War and its aftermath, the visionary trio not only discover that they are being drawn inexorably towards the greatest secret the Middle East has ever kept, but also towards their own destinies. For Hugo, Brent and Phillipa have loved before, in other powerful identities, and now they have come to terms with this as well as their responsibilities to the hidden gods.

The extraordinary, demonic monument to Franco broods over the Valley of the Fallen, north of Madrid. Here, in the hallowed seclusion of the confessional box, Eduardo Tomas, Spain''s Home Affairs Minister, is gunned down by a manipulative killer. Senior Interpol officer, Marius Larche, heads the investigating team; his number two, Detective Superintendent Alison Rowe, seconded from Scotland Yard because of her special knowledge of one particular political assassin, suspected of the murder. On the beautiful fortress-like island of Molino, they investigate the web of secrecy and suspicion which surrounds the Minister''s widow and the whole Tomas family. As Larche and Rowe assemble their suspects in the lavish retreat overlooking the Mediterranean, a ruthless killer penetrates the rigid security ... Political and religious intrigue, the hedonism of the rich and the brutality of desperate people make an irresistible melange in Confessional, first published in 1993, a successor to Anthony Masters'' first Marius Larche investigation, Murder is a Long Time Coming.

The Château Letoric is the ancestral home of the highly respected Larche family obsessed with the past, with bitterness, rancour and revenge.Solange is one of France''s most poignant Resistance heroines but, badly tortured, now senile, the repository of many dark secrets, she has been confined to a wheel chair since the end of the war.Her husband Henri was accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Their son, Marius, at forty-eight a senior officer in Interpol, has been fighting to clear his father''s name. But Marius himself is also vulnerable in St Esprit where his past - a homosexual affair with a farm-worker - rises to plague him.Suddenly the years of tongue-wagging culminate in the first of three fatal tragedies: Henri Larche is murdered.The paralysis of a town trapped in the past is powerfully evoked in this superbly skillful story of a family whose dreaded secrets hound them to the death.

Joe has been acting strangely lately. He's been causing serious trouble, and messing up his friends' lives. But they can't tell anyone. Not even each other. You see, no one would believe them. Everyone looks up to Joe...until he mysteriously disappears. Distraught, his sister Debs pleads with his friends to look for him. Reluctantly, they head for the obvious place - the marsh where they played as kids. But they are not kids anymore, and without Joe they're leaderless. How will they even find him? And do they want to, after what he's done? In fact, they would be quite happy if Joe stayed missing for good...

Summer has always been such fun, the family together at Formentera. This year is different. Colin''s dad mysteriously disappears, presumed drowned, leaving a note - SORRY. CAN''T HOLD ON ANY LONGER. Suddenly nothing makes sense.Colin heads for New York to discover the truth about his father''s ''death'' but ends up on the run from the ''Sandman''. Who can be behind all of this? It must be someone very powerful indeed...

It''s dark. A light snow is falling. Down in the crypt there are tales of vampires to be told. Could they be true?Vampire Stories to Tell in the Dark - Spooky Vampire tales for young adults.

Every night Gary wakes sweating with fear. Every night the dreams come. Gary does not know what the dreams mean. Who is the stranger who hammers at the door? Who is the baby whose cries can be heard? He and his family are newcomers to the Isle of Wight, but Gary is soon to find his life inextricably bound up with both the island and the supernatural.''Masters evidently believes in giving his...readers more than thrills and spills'' - Sunday Telegraph

First published in 1964, Anthony Masters'' early collection of short stories , A Pocketful of Rye, is preoccupied with problems of social marginalisation and inequality. With his typical sensitivity, Masters observes universal human struggles caused by ageing, impoverishment, alienation and disability. These short stories are touching and poignant without being sentimental or patronising.

Racing along on his roller-blades, Terry feels like he is almost flying, yet he is in perfect control - until the blades take over. Terrified, he is propelled through an overgrown garden and into a sinister-looking house...

When Jamie nearly drowns in a rough sea, his life is saved by a magnificent white Sea Horse with green eyes. One stormy night the Sea Horse comes ashore and is imprisoned in a lonely stable. First published in 1966 this fantasy fixture tells, through the mind of a small boy, the story of Jamie's quest to save the Sea Horse.

Jenny and David, twins whose close connection makes them understand each other without words, also share a secret of being able to see things other people can''t. When a local homeless tramp disappears from their street, they decide to look for him for as they suspect the old man is ill and in need of medical help. They find him in an abandoned cinema, which is squatted by the local vagabonds, and the old man is taken to hospital with a chest infection. Jenny and David feel good about their deed, but they soon realise that curing his body is not enough when the old man''s soul is haunted by some disturbing happenings of the past.Through the desolate wastelands of the city landscape, the Ghosthunter twins bravely follow mysterious apparitions of Leslie, May and Mrs Garland, who haunt old Sid giving him no rest. Will they be able to get to the bottom of the secret? Will they come through unscathed by this strange adventure?In Deadly Games, a fantasy for children and young adults first published in 1996, Anthony Masters cleverly interweaves exciting supernatural adventures with difficult themes of homelessness and social marginalisation.

The flames flicker. The night deepens. Something''s moving in the shadows. Alone on the moors they gather round the fire, all waiting to tell their own horror story. Just listen…

Deserted by her husband, Anne Lucas wants him dead.Small-time villain Joe Barrington wants out from the manipulations of gangster-on-the-run Michael McMarn. Joe''s brother, Eamonn Coyd, emotionally and physically scarred, wants to get him and his family abroad fast. As a result, Coyd comes up with what is to prove a deadly alliance. If Joe Barrington takes up Anne Lucas''s contract on her wealthy husband, then he can not only walk away with £30,000 but bleed her financially for months to come.When Anne and her unknown contract killer begin a deadly game of mutual entrapment they run the risk of self-destruction. Behind these players moves the bizarre shadow of gangster boss, McMarn, determined to revenge himself on his renegade contract killer.I Want Him Dead is a fast moving, crisply written tale of avarice, vengeance and human frailty which grips like a vice until the final page.

Tonight is the night of the full moon. Eyes shine in the darkness. The howling begins. Once human, now beast, the werewolf stalks his prey. And in the heart of the forest there are stories to be told…

David's dad is driving him crazy. He is always moaning about his art, upsetting his mum, disregarding their sick Gran and generally making everyone miserable. Only Jan, David's kind and understanding friend, makes it all bearable. When his dad moves to Spain on the trail of his 'vision,' David follows for a holiday. But waiting for him there is the cunning orphan Miguel, vying for his dad's attention. And when Jan comes to visit, everything goes from bad to worse. Miguel goes to dangerous lengths to drive a wedge between David and those he loves. As Miguel's interference gets more and more perilous, they are all caught up in something very strange indeed, for there is a local legend about the 'Rock People,' about a curse, and revenge...In this novel for young adults, first published in 1990, Anthony Masters shares deep insight into social problems experienced by children and teenagers, and explores difficult themes of family break-ups, bullying, illness and death.