The Tale of Truthwater Lake: 'Absolutely gorgeous.' Hilary McKay

Product Information

It's during an illicit swim in the lake that Poilly finds a door handle that transports her to another time period - the 1930s where she becomes Nellie - who dreams of swimming the English Channel. It's through Nellie's eyes that we learn about her friends Nate and Lena and just what happened to the village that Nellie calls home. Nowadays, she’s a bestselling author and the ‘Queen of Historical Fiction’ ( BookTrust). She has been nominated for and the winner of numerous national, regional and schools awards – including the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Award, Branford Boase, CILIP Carnegie Medal, Young Quills, Teach Primary and the Waterstones Book Prize. Emma is one of very few authors to have been Waterstones Book of the Month twice. Faber & Faber was founded nearly a century ago, in 1929. Read about our long publishing history in a decade-by-decade account. With the two narratives seamlessly switching and echoing each other, this is a compelling story with themes of courage and true friendship. Emma Carroll's sublime storytelling enthrals and grips the reader once again.

Whilst on holiday, Polly notices that the water in the lake has evaporated and her aunt tells her that the lake is covering a lost village. I am a big fan of Emma Carroll’s books. I like the historical context of them and the hints of something otherworldly. It's hot. So hot that it's unsafe to be out in the sun during the day, with the government imposing a law to keep people inside when over 42deg C. Siblings Joel and Polly are melting inside their flat in the summer school holidays. Learning that they are going to stay at their aunt Jessie's in the country comes as a relief.I absolutely loved this book. It has so many facets, all handled with skill and delicacy by Emma Carroll. It would make an excellent class reader, and would lead to much discussion. At its heart, however, it is a clever, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable story. I have already started to recommend The Tale of Truthwater Lake to friends and colleagues, and feel sure that it will feature on many forthcoming awards lists. Channel swimming became a real craze at this time, as did other outdoor pursuits. Gertrude Erderle, who my character Nellie idolises, was the first woman to swim the channel in 1926. Showing off your physical prowess was a Big Thing! The other swimmers mentioned in the story are figments of my imagination. Nellie’s life changes—but not in the way we expect—when a swimming celebrity arrives at the Syndercombe Lido to select a young swimmer for a media-sponsored Channel swim. Nellie and her best friend Lena must plot and plan to help the chosen swimmer achieve the Channel swim and make all their different dreams come true. The weight of the storytelling is with Nellie, as she also negotiates different kinds of separation and loss, trying to keep Lena with her as Syndercombe collapses into water. When Nellie’s story arrives in 2032, Polly’s story reasserts itself. We understand the lessons she has learned from being Nellie and about different kinds of courage. This Signed Edition features beautiful sprayed edges and an A5 Art Print Hand Signed by Emma Carroll and illustrator, Daniela Terrazzini. That this was an era with a foot in the past - horses still worked the land, cars were a luxury few could afford, refrigerators, antibiotics, television sets, weren't yet in widespread use, and rationing of some goods was still in place. And yet the world was very definitely looking to the future. After the war the population was booming. People needed new housing, and new gadgets to put in them. Cinema and music became even more popular, especially amongst younger generations.

About the Author: Emma Carroll taught English for twenty years until a life-changing cancer diagnosis meant that she felt brave enough to give her dream of being an author a try. Nowadays she's a bestselling author and has been nominated for and won numerous awards - including Books Are My Bag Readers' Award, Branford Boase, CILIP Carnegie Medal, Young Quills, Teach Primary and the Waterstones Book Prize. Emma lives in the Somerset Hills with her husband and their two terriers.Partly because it made sense to, in the context of a hot summer, a dried up reservoir, and a village emerging from the water. And partly because it's a reminder of the price we pay for progress. It's a very obvious example of how the world around us is constantly changing and impacting on the natural world as it does so.

The winners of The Farshore Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2023, highlighting the work schools are doing to encourage a love of reading, have... Trademark Emma Carroll, with a strong and relevant message and a pacy, twisty plot. A book full of gutsy charm!’ Lesley Parr, author of The Valley of Lost Secrets But Truthwater Lake is beginning to dry up. As the water level diminishes, a lost village emerges. Swimming over the rooftops at midnight, Polly dives down and is suddenly able to breathe, to hear church bells and bird song . . . Polly has discovered an underwater gateway . . . to the past! About This Edition ISBN: LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Dive into this powerful time-travelling tale about a curious girl, a scorching heatwave and a lost village deep underwater…

Emma Carroll Press Reviews

Become a Faber Member for free and receive curated book recommendations, special competitions and exclusive discounts. Nellie is an excellent swimmer in her area, and with Lena at her side Nellie tries out for an amazing opportunity. A wealthy man is keen to sponsor and train a child to be the very first child to swim the Channel between England and France. Nellie is devastated when a boy she's never met before is chosen over her, and the disappointment just won't leave her. Again, with Lena by her side, another opportunity arises. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Experts says that if temperatures continue to rise at the current rate, the Earth could be 5.4°C hotter by the year 2100. Once told by poet Ted Hughes her writing was ‘dangerous’, it took Emma Carroll twenty years of English teaching and a life-changing cancer diagnosis to feel brave enough to give her dream of being an author a try.

We often see pictures of your dogs - are they important writing companions for you? Can you tell us a bit about them? Key themes are whether decisions made in the pursuit of progress are the best in the long run. There are fracturing friendships and miscommunications, parental expectations vs being yourself, and of course the result of 'progress' being global warming.Can you tell us about your latest book, The Tale of Truthwater Lake, and what inspired the story? How much of it is inspired by real events or people? In The Tale of Truthwater Lake, Britain is struggling with an on going heatwave which is considered to be a danger to life and so a curfew is in place. Polly and her brother Joel are sent to stay with their Aunt, who lives near the lake. One night Polly takes a dip in the lake and discovers the lost village. What follows is a mesmerising tale into the past with connections to the future. A thought provoking tale with an environmental message deeply rooted in its heart. Set 10 years in the future, fraught with climate issues and 70 years in the past where a village is about to be submerged to make way for a new lake. Polly and Nellie take us through these respective times when they are trying to help friends and achieve things others consider too difficult or dangerous.