Melvin Burgess – författare

Everyone says fourteen-year-old BILLIE is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends.But her care worker sees someone different. Her classmate ROB is big, strong; he can take care of himself and his brother.But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate. And CHRIS is struggling at school; he just doesn''t want to be there.But his dad sees a useless no-hoper. Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. But there are two sides to every story, and the question is . . . who do you believe?

THE FIRST ADULT NOVEL BY THE CARNEGIE PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF JUNK''A spirited retelling... witty and insightful.'' i PAPER''His prose is electrical, crackling with a mischievous charge.'' BUZZ MAGAZINE''Told with wit [and] verve... it''s a book that exerts a curious charm.'' MAIL ON SUNDAY''Burgess recounts Loki''s genius . . . with great gusto, pulling together many tales into one sometimes beautifully lyrical masterwork.'' SFX MAGAZINE''a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race.'' CULTUREFLYStep into the ancient fir-tree forests of Scandinavia and bear witness to legends as epic as those of the Greeks and the Romans.Melvin Burgess revolutionised children''s literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It. In his first adult novel, Loki, he breathes new life into Norse myths.Starting with the Norse creation myths, the trickster god Loki takes the reader on a wild ride through Norse mythology, from the time the gods - the founders of Asgard - defeated races of monsters, and hurtling through famous stories, including Odin hanging himself on the World Tree, the theft of the corrupting gold ring and the murder of Baldr, the god of love and the Sun. This narrative may seem familiar enough at first, but the reader should beware. Born within the heart of a fire in the hollow of a tree-trunk, Loki arrives in Asgard as an outsider. He is a trickster, an unreliable narrator, the god of intelligence and politics. In spite of his cleverness and sparkling wit (or, perhaps, because of this...) Loki struggles to find his place among the old patriarchal gods of supernatural power and is constantly at odds with the god of thunder - Thor. Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki''s many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin''s famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful - a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society. This is a retelling that is contemporary in tone, at once amusing and relatable. It is a heartfelt plea to overthrow the old gods of power and authority and instigate a new era ruled by love and intelligence.

Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn''t want to be tied down - not to anyone or anything. Gemma wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, somehow, finally you have to come down. Commissioned and produced by Oxford Stage Company, Junk premiered at The Castle, Wellingborough, in January 1998 and went on to tour throughout the UK in 1998 and 1999.

"John Retallack''s excellent adaptation of Melvin Burgess''s controversial Carnegie Medal winning novel is splendidly unpatronising...a truly cautionary tale" (Independent)

Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn''t want to be tied down - not to anyone or anything. Gemma wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, somehow, finally you have to come down. Commissioned and produced by Oxford Stage Company, Junk premiered at The Castle, Wellingborough, in January 1998 and went on to tour throughout the UK in 1998 and 1999.

"John Retallack''s excellent adaptation of Melvin Burgess''s controversial Carnegie Medal winning novel is splendidly unpatronising...a truly cautionary tale" (Independent)

From the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of Smack comes a middle-grade tale of adventure and cunning in the spirit of Treasure IslandVictorian London in the 1850''s: Jamie, Ten Tons and Davies are young "mudlarks"--scavengers who eke out a meager existence by reclaiming bits of coal, rope, and anything of value from the muddy banks of the River Thames. Anything they find might keep them from starving for one more day.When they see a massive roll of copper fall off a ship, the trio comes up with a daring plan to retrieve it and make their fortunes. But can three small boys alone retrieve the impossibly heavy copper from the bottom of the Thames? They resolve to find a way--or die trying.