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Efren is a young rat, unnoticed and timid among the kingdom of rats living in the London sewers. When the king dies, leaving the kingdom in upheaval, only Efren dares to journey into the human world, where he discovers a human doctor's plan to destroy London's entire rat population. Meanwhile, Peter, otherwise known as Dogboy, does odd jobs for both the scheming doctor and the town ratcatcher. But his gift for understanding animals - even rats - forces him to decide where his allegiances truly lie. Dogboy and Efren, along with the waifish girl Caz and her pet rat, Malaika, set out to test the strengths of friendship and loyalty against the gut-wrenching cruelties of the world.
"Starred Review. Well-wrought characters (both human and rat), a compelling presentation of difficult moral questions, and a devastating portrayal of society's dark underbelly make this novel hard to forget. Ages 12+." - Publishers Weekly
"For a book with a dire and at times bloody premise, the overall mood of hope and friendship will sustain readers long after they finish." - School Library Journal
This information about The Twyning was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Terence Blacker is the author of numerous books for children and adults and is a columnist for the Independent. This is his first book with Candlewick Press. He lives in the English countryside in a house that he converted from a goose hatchery.
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