Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Wild Before! It's the last day of the tour, but you can check out all of the other brilliant posts and reviews on the blogs in the graphic above.
The Wild Before is a stunning prequel to the bestselling and beloved The Last Wild trilogy, exploring the topical yet timeless themes of environmental awareness, friendship, and hope. Torday’s award-winning storytelling – which has earnt him the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and a CILIP Carnegie Medal nomination – builds an unforgettable world of classic folklore and extraordinary adventure that will captivate readers of all ages.
One frosty winter's night, a pure white calf is born on an ordinary muddy farm by the light of a silver moon. This is the legendary Mooncalf, whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time. According to a dream passed down from animal to animal, if the calf dies, a great terribleness will come - rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire, the end of all things... and Little Hare vows to persuade all the animals to protect Mooncalf, whatever the cost.
But it's easier said than done, and soon Little Hare realises that he is the only one who can save the world...
I'm excited to be sharing a really tense extract from the book for my tour post:
*I will look after you, Mooncalf,* he said, his teeth chattering in his head.
In reply, she gave him another large lick with her tongue, all over this time. Then there wasn’t time for anything more, because the hare and the calf were caught in the glare of lights from a smoke-belching machine.
And suddenly the moonlit night was full of what scared Little-Hare the most. More than white falling out of winter, more than cold, more than getting lost far from home.
Humans! Lots of them, spilling from the back of their machine.
There was the farmer; Little-Hare knew his walk even under the extra skins he was wrapped in. The farmer’s mate, some workers, and a human he didn’t recognise.
The stranger gave him a funny feeling. His brain pricked, sensing something he had never felt before. He should have fled already, but that pricking held him, frozen as if by a spell. Then the enchantment was broken by one of the workers, swinging their light and pointing at him, shouting –
So Little-Hare ran once more. This time, for his life.
The Wild Before published on 19 August. Thank you so much Quercus Children’s Books and Sofia at Midas PR for letting me be a part of the tour.
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