Captives

A powerfully original and gripping adventure, which explores the themes of hostages, politics, terrorism and first love on a fictitious Carribean island, written in breathtakingly beautiful narrative by a master storyteller.

Tom Pow was born in Edinburgh. He studied at the University of St Andrews before teaching English in schools in Edinburgh, London, Madrid and Dumfries where he now lives with his wife and two children. He has taken up Writer's Bursaries to travel to South America and Africa and spent 1992-3 as Scottish/Canadian Writing Fellow based at the University of Alberta. In 1999 he went part time to concentrate on his writing. Tom was Scotland's first Virtual Writer in Residence and first ever Writer in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2001. Tom has written poetry, a travel book, radio plays a substantial amount of Journalism. He has written two picture books and his first novel for younger readers, Scabbit Isle, was published in Corgi in August 03.

Even in his wildest nightmares, Martin could never have predicted what would happen when his family sign up for two day's trekking in the National Park during their holiday on the beautiful island of Santa Clara. They've barely set off when their car is waylaid and Martin, his parents and another family are stopped at gunpoint and bundled into a lorry that heads for the dense forest. 
 
The captives are pushed to their physical and emotional limits as they are forced further into the wild terrain, away from any possible rescue. But during their ordeal, the hostages come to understand something of the harsh political backdrop to life on Santa Clara, and the events that have shaped the lives of their captors and fuelled their actions. Martin discovers deep feelings for Louise, the other teenager caught up in the nightmare, only to have to watch her growing love for Eduardo, the youngest hostage-taker. 
 
CAPTIVES is a wonderfully-written, deeply-engaging story about ten people thrown together under extraordinary circumstances and with devastating consequences - a story that will resonate with the reader long afterwards.

The Pack

A moving story about three street children, about cruelty, and neglect but also about the healing power of friendship and love.

Tom Pow is a highly regarded Scottish poet. His poetry has won numerous awards and been widely anthologised.

'Floris is all that keeps Victor in the human world, the only tenderness he allows in his heart. He will do all he can to find her and, if he doesn't, yes, he will die as a dog . . .' 
 
Bradley, Victor and Floris live with the dogs on the dark, forgotten edge of a segregated city. Haunted by memories and abandoned by society, they have learned to survive on their own. But when Floris is kidnapped the others must venture into the unknown to save their friend. It is a journey fraught with danger - violent gangs stalk the streets, and corrupt warlords viciously guard their territories. But it is also a journey of discovery . . .

Tom Pow

Three strands of narrative are pleasingly woven together in this gentle and moving short novel

This book is a rich and humbling experience on many levels

The first time Sam sees the mysterious figure of Janet she vanishes into the deserted fields beyond the town where nothing has ever been built. Sam learns that centuries before this was the place to which plague victims were banished - Scabbit Isle - a place of terror. With the help of Mr Carruthers, the old curator of the local museum, Sam gradually uncovers the horror of Janet's story - consigned to Scabbit Isle by her cruel father and abandoned by her weak lover, Janet suffers without hope. She will continue to do so, if she can't find someone who, for love, will risk all to enter the plague colony to release her. Janet seems to be beckoning Sam to help her and a tragedy within Sam's own family brings Sam even closer to Janet's fate. Janet is the same age that Sam's twin sister Alice would have been had she not been killed in an accident. It is a loss from which Sam's father, in particular,has never recovered. Can Sam summon up the courage to face the terrors of Scabbit Isle and, like Orpheus, venture into the underworld to bring Janet peace?

Tom Pow

Praise for Scabbit Isle

Three strands of narrative are pleasingly woven together in this gentle and moving short novel

This book is a rich and humbling experience on many levels

Books by Tom Pow

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