Buy The Doomspell: Paperback - Hardcover - Audio Doomspell Trilogy: Paperback - Hardcover

Available in Hardback, paperback and audio versions.
Orion (Abridged) audio read by Siân Phillips.
BBC Audio (unabridged) read by Rula Lenska.

Listen to me talking about the Doomspell Books

In a blaze of light, rush of wind and scrabble of claws, Rachel and Eric are ripped through the wall and hurtled on to another world. Like thousands of other children before them, they have been snatched away by the Witch.

But this time the Witch has met her match. Rachel discovers that she has extraordinary gifts: she can transform herself into a feather, or fly on an owl’s back, just as the Witch can. The Witch is excited ?she has found someone to use for her own evil purposes. But for the Witch’s victims, Rachel is their only hope.

‘High fantasy, richly imagined and refreshingly well-written ?an excellent novel.?- Sunday Times.

‘Brilliant, breathless and filled with action from page one.?- Kids Out.

‘A great new voice in writing for children ?an incredible world in which the reader will become totally absorbed.?- The Bookseller.

’Gripping ?racy ?[children] have been fighting to borrow it.?- The Guardian.

‘A vivid world of magical possibilities.?- The Times.

‘A thrilling and magical read ?There is a real build up of suspense with plenty of twists and turns. It is full of brilliant descriptions of events, characters and places.?- Library and Information Service for Schools.

‘Places him firmly among much more well-known names such as Philip Pullman and C.S.Lewis ?Ithrea is a truly complete world, and the characters are beautifully conceived to obtain an emotional response from the reader.?- BookMonster.

‘A magical read, full of danger, treachery and excitement.?- Amazon.

 
Read an extract from The Doomspell

The Witch descended the dark steps of the Palace. It was a freezing night. Snow blew wildly in the sky and the wind howled like a starving wolf.

‘What a delightful evening,?sighed the Witch happily.

Despite the bitter cold she wore only a thin black dress and her feet were bare. A snake clung passionately to her neck, occasionally blinking ruby-red eyes through the snow flurries.

The Witch walked effortlessly, relishing the crunch of ice against her toes, while a man alongside struggled to keep up. He was less than five feet tall and over five hundred years old. Bow-shaped creases either side of his eyes made them appear as if they had been gouged out and re-inserted many Times. He shuffled down the steep Palace steps, only a big, flat nose and square chin exposed. His scraggy beard was neatly tucked under three scarves.

‘Well, how do I look, Morpeth??the Witch asked.

She flashed a pretty woman face.

‘It will convince the children,?he muttered. ‘Why bother to make yourself look nice, Dragwena? You don’t normally care what they think.?/p>

The Witch reverted to her normal appearance: blood-red skin, tattooed eyes, the four sets of teeth, two inside and two outside the writhing snake-mouth. Morpeth watched as the rows of teeth snapped at each other, fighting for the best eating position. A few purple-eyed, armoured spiders swarmed between the jaws, cleaning the remains of her last meal.

‘Ah, but tonight a special child is arriving,?the Witch said. ‘I don’t want to frighten it too soon.?

Morpeth made his way down the remaining icy steps of the eye-tower. It was the highest point of the Palace, a thin column piercing the sky. Below, the other jagged Palace buildings huddled in the snow, their black stone poking up like beetle limbs. Morpeth placed one foot carefully in front of the next. He preferred not to slip - if he fell the Witch always waited until the last possible moment before rescuing him. Tonight he noticed Dragwena was unusually excited. She gently rolled the spiders on her tongue and laughed. It was an ugly laugh, shrill, inhuman - like the Witch herself. Through nostrils shaped like slashed tulip petals she sniffed the air eagerly.

‘A perfect evening,?she said. ‘Cold, darkness, and the wolves are out. Can’t you smell them??/p>

Morpeth grunted, stamping his feet to keep warm. He could not smell or see the wolves, but he did not doubt Dragwena’s word. Her bone-rimmed, triangular lids opened and stretched backwards under her cheekbones. Every detail of the night was always clear to the Witch.

‘And the best of the evening is yet to come,?she sighed. ‘Soon new children will be arriving. No doubt they will be the same as always - a little puzzled, yet grateful to receive our care. What will we do with them this time??She grinned, and all four rows of teeth thrust forward menacingly. ‘Shall we frighten them to death? What do you think, Morpeth??/p>

Background to The Doomspell

The Doomspell, my first book, is a story about two children who are dragged into a freezing world called Ithrea, ruled by an evil witch, Dragwena.

I’m always reading about authors who have been writing with confidence from the age of five or (usually) less, but I was quite happy not writing a jot for thirty-six years. Then I decided to write my eight-year-old daughter a story. She wanted a story about a really, really REALLY nasty witch.

Shortly afterwards, a strange image came into my head: of an evil woman walking down a steep stairway. The woman was outside, surrounded by dark snow and freezing winds, but she was not uncomfortable; on the contrary, she was quite at home.

I got out my PC and started writing the scene that became the opening to The Doomspell (then called simply ‘Rachel and the Witch.?. Within a month I’d written about a hundred pages. Within another four or five months I’d written nearly 400 pages. I’d written a huge book!

A couple of family members read it, and told me to get someone in the publishing world to see if it was worth anything.

The trouble was, I didn’t know anyone in publishing. I didn’t know any writers. I didn’t have a clue how the book world worked. Luckily, I did know one man who went to a creative writing class in Cambridge. Sally Cline, the woman who ran this class (an award winning biographer, but I didn’t know that at the time), agreed to take a look at my manuscript. I felt quite confident that she wouldn’t find too many problems with it. After all, my family had lavished praise on the book, and Rachel loved it. Sally Cline had a slightly different view. She praised me for a moment or two ?and then spent the next half hour or so tearing the novel to shreds. I didn’t like hearing it at the time, but the criticism I got from that insightful woman ?the toughness of it ?was what actually turned me into a writer.

Thanks to Sally I learned how to edit myself. I ended up cutting about 10 characters out of the book who weren’t adding a thing, and tightening up the whole story, reducing the length by over 50%.

It took some time, but I eventually managed to find an agent willing to read the first three chapters. She wrote to me that ‘if there is any sense left in publishing?she would find someone interested in it soon. She did. A few days later it was arranged for me to meet Judith Elliott, then Manager of Orion Children’s books, in Cambridge.