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Tinder

On sale

7th November 2013

Price: £7.99

CILIP Carnegie Medal, 2015

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Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781780621500
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A young soldier, a captive princess, witches, wolves and Death walk hand in hand in COSTA AWARD winner Sally Gardner’s gothic retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s THE TINDERBOX.

Otto Hundebiss is tired of war, but when he defies Death he walks a dangerous path. A half-beast half-man gives him shoes and dice, which will lead him deep into a web of dark magic and mystery. He meets the beautiful Safire – pure of heart and spirit, the scheming Mistress Jabber and the terrifying Lady of the Nail. He learns the powers of the tinderbox and the wolves whose master he becomes. But will all the riches in the world bring him the thing he most desires?

Fairy tales are often the cruellest stories of all; this spellbinding book tells of both great love and great loss.

Beautifully illustrated by David Roberts.

Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015 and the Kate Greenaway Medal 2015.

Reviews

The Daily Telegraph
A dark dream -- an exploration of memory, grief, fear, lust and love. Gardner's delicate, eerie rendering lends it a new grace
Stylist
Fast-paced and gripping
INIS Magazine
Profoundly beautiful and thought-provoking ... mesmeric ... ultimately, we are in the hands of a consummate storyteller who provides her readers with nothing less than a meditation on desire, maturation, reality and death.
The Best New Children's Books 2015
Dazzling and haunting...a dark and deliciously macabre read with an unexpected twist
School Zone
Exquisite
Books For Keeps
Luminously written ... rich and rewarding
The Guardian
Gardner's prose in Tinder is adventurous and hugely energetic ... Its a beauty
SFX Magazine
A dark but delightful read
The Bookseller
Exquisite ... as dark and captivating as you would hope
Recommended Reads
Profoundly beautiful
The Times
Mesmeric ... another jewel in Gardner's crown
Financial Times
David Roberts' elegant illustrations are integral to the beautiful design ... A volume to treasure and re-read
The Daily Telegraph
An exquisitely macabre fairy story for teenagers
Books For Keeps
The natural elegance of Roberts' style marries perfectly with the supernatural elements of Gardner's powerful narrative -- by turns ghostly, tender, dramatic