Books in Tucker series

"I took a huge load of pig swill round to Len and Kath. They let me help with the pigs sometimes, but I just gave them a scratch (the pigs, not Len and Kath!) When I started all this salvage lark, I said I was going to do my bit by becoming the champion salvager, and by helping people while I did my rounds. Len and Kath need help, so I'll make sure they're never short of swill. The pigs love swill. They stick their heads right in it, and snort and snuffle! They're funny. I know they smell, but you don't notice after you've been round them a bit. It hits you when you first go near the sties, though." After all this time traveling, will Toby find out who he really is?

"I hate Scrope, Nellie. I like working with the beasts, but I do not want to work for that man any more. But who would give a job to a dung boy?" I think I could be a gardener. I asked the merchant's wife, very respectfully, "Madam, do you need a boy to help in your garden?" She smiled and said that when she does want someone, she will think of me. I said, "I can be found at the Tower, my lady, in the king's menagerie." "I know!" she said. Everyone laughed. They all know where I come from because I smell of lion and dung. I did not laugh.

I was just dipping a nicely bulging pocket when something gripped my neck. My stomach scrunched up. I whipped my hand out of the pocket and froze. A hoarse voice whispered, "I told you to stay off Mr. Barkitt's patch. Didn't I?" As he said, "Didn't I?" he shook me by the neck. I was stretched so tall I thought I'd lose my trousers. The owner of the fat pocket was smirking at me. He didn't know how near he'd come to being robbed!

"I waded further in, not looking down in case I saw something nasty float past. Then I thought: Stupid fool! How will you find treasure unless you look down? The smell was getting to me. I wondered how much worse the stink would be where a drain emptied into the sewer. I'm not giving up, though. No darkness, no stink will stop me treasure-hunting. This could be the way to freedom!"

Toby Tucker is an orphan who has been fostered by the kind Don and Evie. His sole possession is a chest filled with torn paper, and a strange message: Piece your family tree together and you'll find out who you are and when you come from. "When, not where?" thinks Toby. "That can't be right." Yet when he manages to put together a name, the most incredible magic happens. Toby becomes his ancestor! The first time it happens, Toby is catapulted back to Ancient Egypt, into Seti's life, and finds himself keeping sneaky secrets: "One moment I was doomed to be a farmer, keeping crazy chickens, the next I had a chance to learn mummy making!"