The Great Harlequin Grim

A compelling debut novel about first love and an unlikely friendship, set against the backdrop of the breathtaking Cumbrian landscape.

Gareth Thompson was born in northern England in 1964. After graduating from the London College of Printing he has worked for United Newspapers, directed performing arts for adults with learning difficulties, worked as Deputy Editor for Whatsonstage.com and as a sub-editor at the Press Association. The Great Harlequin Grim is his first novel for children.

Glenn Jackson is thirteen and has moved with his father from Burnley to Torbeck in the Lake District. His Mum has not come with them and Glenn's father is avoiding Glenn's questions. From the moment Glenn meets Laura, quiet and overshadowed by her vindictive adoptive sister, he is bewitched. 
 
Harlequin is a seven-foot eighteen-year-old living rough in an abandoned shack, disguising himself behind clown's make-up and an old felt hat and hiding in terror whenever the fighter jets have practice runs over Torbeck. When Harlequin rescues Glenn from falling into the old slate mine the two form an unusual friendship and Glenn comes closer to discovering the secret that Harlequin is running away from.

Sunshine to the Sunless

David Almond meets Aidan Chambers meets Ian McEwan in this bittersweet tale of first love and teenage self-discovery.

Gareth Thompson was born in northern England in 1964. After graduating from the London College of Printing he has worked for United Newspapers, directed performing arts for adults with learning difficulties, worked as Deputy Editor for Whatsonstage.com and as a sub-editor at the Press Association. 
 
The Great Harlequin Grim was nominated for the Branford Boase Award in 2007. Sunshine to the Sunless is Gareth's second novel for young adults.

At the age of nine Andrew Kindness witnesses the horrific death of a father and son who are sucked into quicksand on the shores of Millom's estuary in Cumbria. Unable to help at the time, Andy grows haunted by the guilt and memory of this terrible event. When his granddad shows him the art of cross-breeding daffodils some years later, Andy finds solace in the beauty of the flowers, but he keeps his hobby secret from the prying eyes of the village. 
 
That is until Angie Hutchinson, the cleverest and prettiest girl in the school, needs Andy's help to produce a radio show to commemorate the anniversary of Wordsworth's famous Daffodils poem. Their growing friendship gives Andy the strength he needs to let go of the past and face up to his dad's illness. 
 
A moving novel that explores both the beauty and bleakness of life and the effect that the past can have on shaping the future - beautifully written in Gareth Thompson's fresh prose.

Gareth Thompson

Teeters on a precipice between savagery and immense compassion, it crackles with energy and the seering heat of deep felt, raw, human emotions

This is an intriguing novel. It moves at a good pace and keeps the reader on side. The main character for all his doom and gloom is engaging. Even the weirdly duplicitous Angel has a curious fascination

A tremendously satisfying novel . . . Tense and exciting. 4 1/2 stars

Fifteen-year-old Samson Ashburner has always felt like an outsider - even before the accident that left his face scarred and his confidence shattered. With the jeers and taunts of the local children and his mother ringing in his ears, Samson malingers like a dark cloud over the Cumbrian landscape. His only refuge is his ancestor's charcoal-burning hut deep in the nearby woods and it is here that he encounters Angel Obscura, a gypsy girl who teachers Samson that not everybody takes him at face value. But Angel is not all that she seems, and Samson is drawn into a web of deceit and shady dealings with an explosive outcome.

Gareth Thompson

Praise for The Anarchist's Angel

Teeters on a precipice between savagery and immense compassion, it crackles with energy and the seering heat of deep felt, raw, human emotions

This is an intriguing novel. It moves at a good pace and keeps the reader on side. The main character for all his doom and gloom is engaging. Even the weirdly duplicitous Angel has a curious fascination

A credible, tense and dark novel

Teeters on a precipice between savagery and immense compassion, it crackles with energy and the seering heat of deep felt, raw, human emotions

This is an intriguing novel. It moves at a good pace and keeps the reader on side. The main character for all his doom and gloom is engaging. Even the weirdly duplicitous Angel has a curious fascination

A credible, tense and dark novel

Teeters on a precipice between savagery and immense compassion, it crackles with energy and the seering heat of deep felt, raw, human emotions

This is an intriguing novel. It moves at a good pace and keeps the reader on side. The main character for all his doom and gloom is engaging. Even the weirdly duplicitous Angel has a curious fascination

A credible, tense and dark novel

Books by Gareth Thompson

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