Bøker av Susan Price

Kenelm is an Atheling, a prince of the Blood-Royal.A descendent of the god, Woden. His uncle is the King.Kenelm had thought to live his life as a warrior: fighting, feasting and marrying a beautiful princess.But his uncle gave him to a monastery, to live and die as a Christian monk.Kenelm feels betrayed but is bound by his oath of loyalty to his king. So he digs the monastery's vegetable garden and dreams of the life he might have had.Then comes a message from the king. He has a mission that only Kenelm can undertake.Kenelm must carry a royal message into the dark wood.To the Wolf Sisters.

Azalin's class go on a school trip to another planet.The planet Earth.Once on Earth, Azalin runs away.Her dream is to be a 'tronic when she grows up -- to be one of the special people who maintain the systems that keep the man-made planet of Newarth alive.But just before they left for Earth, she was told that Newarth already has all the 'tronics it needs. She will have to be a store-keeper instead. And she is to be 'sporting' about it.Azalin doesn't want to be a store-keeper. And she doesn't want to be sporting.So she runs away. She phones home to say that she'll come back when she's allowed to be a 'tronic.But life on Earth isn't as safe and ordered as life on Newarth.Alone on Earth, Azalin has no idea how much danger she's in.Especially when she wanders into the 'no-go' zone called 'The Rookery.'Even the Earth Police won't go there...Azalin comes down to Earth. But will she ever go back to home on Newarth?

"In the darkest hour of a freezing Midwinter, a night-walking witch adopts a newborn baby and carries her off in her house on chicken legs. She names her Chingis and teaches her the Three Magics. She grows into such a powerful witch that she rouses the jealousy of Kuzma, the bear-shaman. The Czar of this cold realm fears his newborn son, Safa, will out do him, and so imprisons the baby at the top of a tall tower, to live and die there without ever glimpsing the real world. Loneliness and confinement drive him to rage and despair until Chingis hears the crying of his trapped spirit and frees him. But now their enemies unite against them, with steel and deadly magic. Chingis and Safa's fight for freedom will take them even through the Ghost World into the Land of the Dead."--

"You love me, don't you, Jonnie?"The Industrial Revolution blackens the countryside.Women and children hack at coal underground and drag loaded tubs like animals. "You'd better love me."Rattle is a dirty, pipe-smoking, swearing collier-wench who dresses and swaggers like a boy.She's in love with Jonathan Turner, a young farmer and a prim, God-fearing Methodist. "I love you, Jonnie. I'll never let you go."Rattle is determined to have Jonathan.But he's already married.To a vengeful ghost."I love you to death."

Ten-year-old Sandy's childhood ends when his mother sells him to a farmer who half-starves and beats him.So he runs away for good, away from the farm and from home.Alone on the road, penniless, Sandy is lucky to find friends: Spot and Patch, two drover's dogs, who are making their way home all by themselves.With no idea where they are going, Sandy joins them, following them across Scotland, through a wild landscape of loch and mountain, to the Hebridean island of Mull in the West.When the dogs lead him to their croft, Sandy's deepest wish seems to have come true. He, too, has found a loving home.He is happier at Lachlan's croft than he thought he could be, until he discovers that he is not really wanted there at all. Unwelcome, he takes to the road again. But without his four-legged friends.Will he go through his whole life friendless and lonely?Susan Price is an acclaimed writer of books for the young. She has won the Carnegie medal and the Guardian Fiction prize and her books have been translated into many languages.

The young witch, Shingebiss, believes she can 'spell' the Czar and make him save her beloved Northlands from destruction. In her innocence, she little understands that the Imperial Palace is a place of treachery and murder, ruled by a madman with a mind like 'a broken mirror, reflecting all things crookedly.' At first the Czar takes Shingebiss for an angel, sent to him by God, and welcomes her. But none of her spells seem able to blunt his greed and cruelty. And Shingebiss has a rival at court who hates her - the English wizard, Master Jenkins, who pretends to the Czar that he can summon demons. Fearing that Shingebiss will unmask him, Master Jenkins plans to be rid of her. He tells the Czar that he can make him an Elixir of Immortality. The most potent ingredient is the blood of an angel. The Czar orders the elixir made immediately. Can Shingebiss save the Northlands? Can she save her own life? An intense, Gothic fantasy. Susan Price is an acclaimed writer for young people. The first book in the Ghost World sequence, The Ghost Drum, won the prestigious Carnegie medal.

ELFGIFT. The elf's get and the Goddess' darling fights to keep his throne. If he loses, he loses everything: crown, love and life. Elfgift's Christian half-brother, Unwin, will never be satisfied until Elfgift is dead. He vows that, on capturing Elfgift, he will hand him to his Danish allies, to be sacrificed to Odin. The sacrifice of the Blood-Eagle.It's a gruelling war, but Elfgift is sustained by the love of the Goddess he fights for -- until She asks for the life of his brother, Wulfweard. Wulfweard's life is owed to Odin, the Goddess tells him. He must choose. Will he have his brother at his side, or his Goddess? A brief truce, to celebrate Jul and Christ's Mass, ends in brutal treachery. Elfgift falls into Unwin's power. Will the Goddess come to his aid. Or has She deserted him? Part Two of a Gothic, Dark Age fantasy.

Azalin's class go on a school trip to another planet.The planet Earth.Once on Earth, Azalin runs away.Her dream is to be a 'tronic when she grows up: one of the special people who maintain the systems keeping the man-made planet of Newarth alive.But just before leaving for Earth, she was told that Newarth already has all the 'tronics it needs. She will have to be a store-keeper instead. And she is to be 'sporting' about it.Azalin doesn't want to be a store-keeper. And she doesn't want to be sporting.So she runs away. She phones home to say that when she's allowed to be a 'tronic, she'll come back.But, alone on Earth, Azalin has no idea how much danger she's in. Life on Earth isn't as safe and ordered as life on Newarth.Especially when she wanders into the 'no-go' zone called 'The Rookery.'Even the Earth Police won't go there...Azalin comes down to Earth. But will she survive to home to Newarth?

Midsummer midnight: the endless white night of the far north.Malyuta, slave and hunter, names his first born son 'Ambrosi' because it means 'Immortal.'Then comes Kuzma, the bear-shaman, who claims the baby as his apprentice. He promises Malyuta riches or even the return of his youth, if he will give up his new-born son.Malyuta refuses, throughout the long night. The bear-shaman leaves, at last, declaring that keeping the baby will bring Malyuta nothing but misery.It is never wise to anger a shaman. Kuzma watches as Ambrosi grows...Can Ambrosi escape the bear-shaman? Can he protect his father from the Kuzma's revenge?Book Two of the Ghost World sequence, which began with Ghost Drum and continues with Ghost Dance.

Here are nine powerful stories written by acclaimed, award winning author, Susan Price. Voices whisper in a graveyard...'Who weeps on my grave, who keeps me from sleep? - Is it you who unearths me to this cold rain, this dark, this wind and all its grief?'A lost sister speaks in a dream...'She said,"I'm on Mow Top. But you won't find me now. Don't look. Forget me."A supermarket is haunted by a murdered baby... Footsteps climb the stairs of a darknened cottage... A voice whispers in a museum...Nine short, haunting stories of the supernatural, of loss and longing, of those who walk between this world and the next...Review'...The opening tale is...creepy, to the extent that the words crawl like cold fingers down your back.'Mow Top' is heartbreakingly sad... This is how it works in real life. Children see ghosts and tell us. We reassure them, and ourselves, that there are no such things...'The Familiar' is all about the cost of power, and cuts deep.The final story, 'Overheard in a Museum', is a thing of beauty, like the ship itself. You can feel the swell of the sea beneath you as you read. It speaks of a distant era and reminds us that objects so often outlast people by a long, long time. Except that the ship is not an object - it's the spirit of an age. - Rosalie Warren on Awfully Big Blog Adventure Reviews

Praise for Nightcomers from Philip Pullman.'Every tale shows the quality of the imagination, and the accuracy of the telling. What most impresses is the authority of Susan Price's voice: exact, rich or spare when necessary, able to evoke the Past without falsity, and the present without effort.'(The Guardian.)Nightcomers...The beautiful and the uncanny...A beautiful Englishman drives his Italian mistress to suicide - but she pursues him even after death...A young blacksmith spends Midsummer's Night near an ancient mound, to 'shoe with silver the horses of those who come by'...In an echoing, eerie, out-of-hours mall, a lonely cleaner falls in love with a beautiful, hungry stranger...A family gather at a dying girl's bedside and, out of the night, something comes knocking at the window...A man walks home, on a freezing night, along lanes haunted by the Death-Dog...A young actor is offered a lift in a car silver sports car with the number, '130.'A holiday cottage holds memories of despair...And a ghost features in a gentle Christmas story.Eight eerie, haunting stories of the supernatural from an expert story-teller and award-winning writer.

Hauntings: nine spooky stories written by an award-winning, expert story-teller.Stories written to haunt, 'to be poignant and evocative, persistently and disturbingly present.'Praise for HAUNTINGS'Susan Price understands well that the ghost story form may be used to move readers and question their prejudices about the nature of appearance, as well as to frighten delightfully. She never settles for cheap effects and writes beautifully of relationships between young and old.' The Daily Telegraph.'This collection... has a depth of emotion that is at times disturbing.' Magpie, 1998A ghostly boy stands in a dark farm-yard, staring at the lit windows of the farmhouse kitchen.An old man, living alone in a farmhouse surrounded by modern estates, sees spirits dancing on an ancient hillside.A bullied schoolgirl finds a protector - at a price.A writer listens to the telling of a dream - and can't sleep easily after.A poltergeist joins a couple in their home...An elderly couple are woken nightly by the return of their young neighbour - who was murdered. Yet still she comes home late...An ancient wood emerges from the lamposts and walls of a city...And a spiritual medium is exposed as a trickster.Hauntings...

Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level

Tales of the Underworld are stories about loss and longing. A princess uses her wit to rescue her husband from Death, a musician tries to free his wife from the Underworld, a god must be returned to life and animals at the dawn of time puzzle over death. TreeTops Myths and Legends are a fascinating selection of the best traditional stories.

The Oxford Reading Tree Traditional Tales series is a collection of some of the best known stories from around the world carefully adapted for children to read themselves. In this Norwegian tale, we learn about how bears lost their tails ... and why they are so grumpy!