Books with title Thursday’s Child

The creature held a great bundle of something tied up in a rag. For a moment we stared, not recognizing him, but who else could it have been, who else but wandering Tin. We saw his naked limbs, his discoloured hair, his hooking razor-sharp nails. He raised lashy eyes to us and we saw a face on its way to another world.Through the long years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute watches with a child's clear eyes her family's struggle to survive in a hot and impoverished landscape. As life on the surface grows harsher, her brother Tin escapes ever deeper into a subterranean world of darkness and troubling secrets, until his memory becomes a myth barely whispered around the countryside.

During the long, hungry years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute's family struggles to cope with life on the hot, dusty land. Her younger brother Tin seeks refuge in the contrast of an ancient subterranean world. A world that nurtures but - as disturbing events in the community reveal - can also kill. A world that is silent, yet absorbs secrets. A world that has the power to change lives for ever. Sometimes you have to dig deep to survive...

"A startling coming-of-age story. . . . Through Harper, Hartnett captures the humanity of her spirited, slightly eccentric, and then nearly broken characters." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Harper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin, with his uncanny ability to dig, was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a bleak landscape during the Great Depression, the silent and elusive little Tin begins to tunnel beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes, Tin becomes a wild thing, leaving his family further and further behind. Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child, with exquisite prose, richly drawn characters, and a touch of magical realism.

Sonya Hartnett’s haunting, mythical novel - now in paperback Harper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin, with his uncanny ability to dig, was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a bleak landscape during the Great Depression, the silent and elusive little Tin - "born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings" - begins to escape underground, tunneling beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes, Tin becomes a wild thing, leaving his family further and further behind. With exquisite prose, richly drawn characters, and a touch of magical realism, Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child. It’s an unsentimental portrait of a loving family faced with poverty and heartbreak, entwined with a surreal vision of the enigmatic Tin, disappearing into a mysterious labyrinth that reaches unimaginably far, yet remains hauntingly near. "Will be treasured by teens. . . . A beautiful and complex coming-of-age story that will burrow into young people’s deepest hopes and fears, shining light on the darkest rooms." - BOOKLIST (starred review)

A thrilling, classic children’s adventure with a courageous heroine, from the beloved author of Ballet Shoes.Margaret Thursday was named after the day she was found on the church steps as a baby. But she isn’t really an orphan – each year a bag of gold coins is left at the church for her keep. However, when Margaret is eleven years old, the money suddenly stops and her guardians have no choice but to send her away to an orphanage.The orphanage is worse than they could have imagined. The children are poorly treated and barely fed, and fearless Margaret soon makes herself the enemy of the evil matron who runs it. Vowing to protect her new friends, Peter and Horatio, Margaret plans their daring escape . . . but she’ll have to outwit Matron at every turn.Margaret’s action-packed adventure, set in turn-of-the-century England, takes her from orphanage to canal boat to the world of the theatre. Through it all, Margaret is propelled by her unwavering sense of self and determination.

This is a story of how magic and love triumph over greed and wickedness. Hope Fountain is a happy ten year old, until the sinister Count Blackguard and his pinch-faced sister, Irma Davage learn that Hope is about to inherit a fortune. They want that fortune so they kidnap Hope and take her far away into the desert. Irma Davage is horrid to her. The Count uses all his cunning to make Hope like him. But Hope is not stupid, she knows the Count is wicked and dreams of escaping from him and his nasty sister. One moonlit night a witch flies to Hope's bedroom window and together they fly off into the desert and discover the Lost Children. Now read on to discover if Hope escapes the Count and his awful sister, rescues the Lost Children and finds her family. The sinister Count Blackguard and his nasty-tongued sister Irma Davage quarrel about everything. However they do agree to kidnap Hope, a lovely ten year old girl. Hope does not know that she is adopted,and will one day inherit a fortune. But the creepy Count and his pinched-faced sister Irma know that she will inherit a fortune and they want it for themselves! So they kidnap Hope. They take Hope to the desert and hold her captive. Hope is terribly sad because she misses her family. Then one starry night a witch arrives at Hope's bedroom window and they fly across the moon into the heart of the desert to visit the Lost Children. The Lost Children have a terrible life, and Hope knows she must try to escape and rescue them. The Count tries to win Hope's trust by giving her a pony. Hope hates the wicked Count but loves the pony. Does Hope ever see her family again, does she rescue the Lost Children, does she outwit the horribly clever Count? Read on and find out.

Margaret Thursday grandly announced to the orphanage children, 'I'm not properly an orphan. I was found on a Thursday on the church step, with three of everything, all the very best quality.' (Occasionally Margaret's story included embroidered crowns on her clothes as well.) And each time she was asked, 'Who do you think you might be then?' she had dozens of ready replies. Whoever she was, Margaret had made herself the arch enemy of the crel matron. Soon things reached such a dreadful state that she decided to run away from St. Luke's, but not without Peter and Horatio, and her three of everything.... So the children fled in the night to become the unlikeliest leggers ever seen on a canal boat. And Margaret proved that she was a person of the very best quality....

A stunningly original voice in young adult fictionHarper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin, with his uncanny ability to dig, was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a desolate landscape during the Great Depression, the silent and elusive little Tin - "born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings" - begins to escape underground, tunneling beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes and fate deals the family an especially cruel hand, Harper’s parents withdraw emotionally, and her siblings bravely try to fill the void, while Tin becomes a wild thing, leaving them further and further behind.With exquisite prose, richly drawn characters, and a touch of magical realism, Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child. It’s a loving and unsentimental portrait of family loyalty in the face of poverty and eartbreak, entwined with a surreal vision of the enigmatic Tin - disappearing into a mysterious labyrinth that reaches unimaginably far, yet remains hauntingly near.