‘Zola the Roller’ by Isaac Thackray, released November 2022!!
Life’s pretty okay at the St. Alice home for orphans.

Until someone dastardly decides he wants to ruin everything.

How will Zola and her friends stop him? What’s behind that door? Why is the doctor acting so strangely? Who’s in charge of these kids? And . . . wait, where’s that music coming from?

Hold on tight for action, thrills, laughs, danger, bumps, jumps and extremely poor supervision.

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‘Queen of Muck’

Lucy and Lily’s Granddad is missing and they’re desperate to find him. 

But first they must survive a great and unusual adventure filled with brutes in nail-polish, a strange bookshop, a children-eating beast, a huge rock and secret tunnel, a very bad orchestra, rotten tricks, flying chunks of cupcake, a talking fox, vomiting, swords, sneak-walking and someone who really isn’t very nice.

Isaac Thackray’s debut YA novel is absolutely fantastic. A funny, exciting and adventurous ride through lands with memorable characters and original story lines.

Lucy and Lily are sisters who have a great fondness for their grandfather - who has gone missing. It seems that no matter where they look for him he just isn’t to be found. A chance encounter with a postcard gives them the direction they need to find the ‘hardly open bookshop’ where they meet an abrupt shopkeeper. It seems finally they are able to find themselves transported to the magical land of Florez. It’s a beautiful place with tranquil pastures and talking foxes - only, things aren’t all they seem.

The Queen of Muck has taken over much of what has made this world magical and wondrous. Her version of wonderful things includes poorly tuned instruments playing both out of time and out of key. She also has a tendency for being ill when things look or sound pleasant or, heaven forbid, even beautiful. And she has Lucy and Lily’s grandfather captive.

The girls must work together with their newly found friends in order to save their grandfather from his fate. Have they got the support to do it? And how exactly is that even going to work?

Part mystery, part adventure, part C.S. Lewis, part Roald Dahl, part J.K. Rowling, part Greek myth, this book has so much going for it. There is much to like as a child or a parent in this wonderfully written modern fairy tale. Thackray has drawn on his experiences as a freelance copywriter and his love for reading children’s books to his daughters and created something quite special. Sitting at the top of the pile is that this is funny. It has a laugh out loud factor to it.

In addition, the illustrations by Millie Perocheau are quite something and the combination of the story and the illustrations has a definite Dahl and Blake-esque feel to it - but also uniquely new and exciting.

Thackray, in his debut, has created a corker of a novel. Here’s hoping there are many more adventures for the two brave and industrious sisters.

Reviewer: Chris Reed

Mary Egan Publishing