Ruth Hatfield is from Cambridge, although she travels around a bit as she is a field archaeologist by profession. It's a good job for inspiration! Ruth has been writing stories for most of her life just to please herself; however, what she loves to explore is the way in which imagination gives us limitless possibilities to make our own lives extraordinary. In her spare time she eats books, gallops around on horses, pedals around on her bike and tries not to break too many bones.
This is really something special. An 11-year-old boy searches for his storm-chaser parents and unravels a shadowy world of magic, menace and a truly terrifying foe. Wonderful storytelling with echoes of Susan Cooper. It's her debut and she's most certainly a name to watch ... Don't miss it. -- Fiona Noble The Bookseller - Book of the Month (November)