The Fire Eaters, David Almond
The Fire Eaters, David Almond
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
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The Fire Eaters

Author: David Almond

Narrator: David Almond

Unabridged: 3 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/02/2013

Synopsis

There he was, below the bridge, half-naked, eyes blazing. He had a pair of burning torches. He ran them back and forth across his skin. He sipped from a bottle, breathed across a torch, and fire and fumes leapt from his lips. The air was filled with the scent of paraffin. He breathed again, a great high spreading flag of fire. He glared. He roared like an animal.

That summer, life had seemed perfect for Bobby Burns. But now it's autumn and the winds of change are blowing hard. Bobby's dad is mysteriously ill. His new school is a cold and cruel place. And worse: nuclear war may be about to start. But Bobby has a wonder-working friend called Ailsa Spink. And he's found the fire-eater, a devil called McNulty. What can they do together on Bobby's beach? Is it possible to work miracles? Will they be able to transform the world?

A stunning novel from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

(P) Hodder Children's Books 2003

About David Almond

David Almond is the author of Skellig, My Name is Mina, Island, Bone Music and many other novels, stories, picture books, opera librettos, songs and plays. His work is translated into 40 languages, and is widely adapted for stage and screen. His major awards include the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbread Awards, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, the Michael L Printz Award (USA), Le Prix Sorcières (France), the Nonino International Prize, the James Kruss Prize and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world's most prestigious prize for children's authors. In 2021, David was awarded an OBE for services to literature.David speaks at festivals and conferences around the world. He is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. He is widely regarded as one of the most exciting, inspirational and innovative children's authors writing today. He has one amazing daughter. He lives in Newcastle, the city in which he was born.www.davidalmond.com

Reviews

Goodreads review by Seamaiden on March 04, 2014

I bought this book from a small bookstore close to my university because it was 1/3 of its original price and because I liked the title. I read the back cover and found the story different than what I usually read so I said "let's do it". I started the book but nothing really interesting happened. St......more

Goodreads review by Luna on October 18, 2023

What a lovely little book......more

Goodreads review by Tash on October 10, 2014

Almond paints the world from the view of a child so well that you forget he is not a child himself. Dealing with some heavy themes, The Fire Eaters makes you question aspects of reality that you accepted long ago. Why is the world the way it is? What is childhood? Is there a God? Almond asks these que......more

Goodreads review by Chantelle on July 22, 2018

My son read this before me. We are both David Almond fans and he couldn't wait for me to finish it so that we could discuss it. One thing we both agreed on, Almond has such a talent for writing in a flawlessly simple way which somehow manages to convey so much beauty and tragedy. For me that makes h......more

Goodreads review by Andy on April 15, 2019

Almond has the ability to make me care about his characters. There is enough here to interest a range of 10 to 15 year olds, dependent on reading and emotional maturity. The mad fire-eater is another edge-of-reality character - the sort we all can be entertained by.......more

Quotes

An affecting meditation on pain, cruelty, class, belonging and the redeeming power of love. The Sunday Times

A beautiful and brilliant novel. There really is nobody quite like Almond. The Times

This is beautifully written and polished to a lapidary gloss. The Guardian

A wonderful novel. The Times

An astonishing, beautiful tale. Almond at his best. The Daily Telegraph

A tale so marvellously told it seems a shame to label it as only for children. The Daily Telegraph

Stays with you long after the book is closed. The Guardian

Almond makes familiar issues fresh; his characters are finely drawn and his depiction of place perfectly realised. The Guardian

Lyrical and atmospheric. The Bookseller

A near-perfect piece of fiction. Time Out

Awards

  • CILIP Carnegie Medal
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