Come Lucky April is set a hundred years on from Plague 99. Harry's great-granddaughter is a girl called April, who lives in an all-female run vegan society, which is carefully governed to eliminate risk of plague-like situations. Men have shamed themselves and are no longer in power. There's a primitive aspect to life as though the 21st century as we know it never happened. At 12, boys are exiled for 5 years ...'they went away as barbarians and came back civilised', which means castrated. 'Homecoming' is when they are welcomed back - but how welcome are they? We meet Daniel, a survivor of a patrician clan, whose quest it is to find unclaimed parts of the 'outside world'. His great grandmother was Fran and his great grand-father was Shahid from the first part of the trilogy. He wants to find the diary that Fran left behind in her family home in Croydon. In the abandoned house, girls and boy meet ... Daniel and April don't, at first, realise they are connected by their distant ancestors' friendship. A potential romantic attachment forms between them. His presence creates conflict, but they take him into their community, where the conflicts worsen. Daniel questions everything April has been brought up to believe. He challenges the women's views and their rejection of the orthodoxy he knows. He makes David, a long-term friend of April, question what he has lost as a man. An exciting novel, rich in texture and passionate in its ideas.

This book demonstrates how contemporary children's texts draw on utopian and dystopian tropes in their projections of possible futures. The authors explore the ways in which children's texts respond to social change and global politics. The book argues that children's texts are crucially implicated in shaping the values of their readers.

Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction examines the representation of selfhood in adolescent and children's fiction, using a Bakhtinian approach to subjectivity, language, and narrative. The ideological frames within which identities are formed are inextricably bound up with ideas about subjectivity, ideas which pervade and underpin adolescent fictions. Although the humanist subject has been systematically interrogated by recent philosophy and criticism, the question which lies at the heart of fiction for young people is not whether a coherent self exists but what kind of self it is and what are the conditions of its coming into being. Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction has a double focus: first, the images of selfhood that the fictions offer their readers, especially the interactions between selfhood, social and cultural forces, ideologies, and other selves; and second, the strategies used to structure narrative and to represent subjectivity and intersubjectivity.

A psychic storm rages and ghosthunters stalk the city where young Davey Williams lives, destroying good and evil alike. Davey risks his own life to save his friends, but will the ghosts be there when he needs them? And now the Lady has returned, brimming with malice and hungry for vengeance. Davey must escape her deadly clutches by Midsummer, or be in her thrall forever...

This is the tale of a small hedgehog named Milton, who is struggling to survive and find happiness. His adventures take him to April’s Pond where he meets a friendly ladybird, squirrel, and house martin. However, his fate is far from certain, hidden danger lurks in the shadows, watching his every move, and not everything at the pond is quite as it seems. The book was created to inspire young children everywhere to conquer their fears and realize their potential. It subtly tackles difficult issues like animal cruelty, trust, friendship, obsession, jealousy, forgiveness, and love. Through the eyes of a small hedgehog it offers the reader ways to deal with complex emotions like fear and incorporates factual information about the wildlife that lives at April's Pond.

Divide and Rule is the story of Hanno, an outsider and an unbeliever, who nevertheless conforms to society and presents himself at the temple as all youths his age must do. He knows he won't be chosen as the Shepherd because of his lack of faith. So when his worst fears are realised and he has to come to terms with giving a year of his life to the Temple, he is outraged. How can he retain his independence in such a harsh and corrupt regime? A stunning novel which raises questions of faith and individuality - one of three early works by Jan Mark which proved her versatility and displayed not only her intellectual vigour but her unparalleled storytelling skills.

A triumphant family story and sharply observed exploration of privilege, identity, and love in all its forms, following four estranged siblings whose lives collide in the lead-up to a family wedding, when new clues surface about their long-missing father “Truly a great American novel that does the very best of what fiction can do: sink us into other people’s lives, show us new worlds, make our hearts pound and our breath catch. Superb.” —Julia Phillips April, May, June, and July Barber don’t have much in common anymore. An upcoming family wedding will place the four siblings in the same room for the first time in years. But shortly before, when April spots their father, who went missing while serving overseas a decade ago, their reunion becomes entirely more complicated. While the siblings’ search for the truth about their father forces them back into each other’s lives, it also intensifies their private dramas. April loves her husband, but seeks excitement outside their marriage. May had big dreams for the future, but she’s still stuck living at home. June is eager to marry her girlfriend, so why does she need a drink at every wedding-related event? And then there’s baby brother July, whose unrequited love for his straight roommate has him more confused than ever. Confronting the past together, April, May, June, and July will find not only answers about their father, but new romance, hope, and understanding as they learn to embrace the beauty of their shared history.