About Hopesgrave Easily
Welcome to Fernlaith Hill.
Where every window is black, water glows in the dark, and brothers tumble from the sky.
Old ladies keep monsters in sheds, amateur surgeons practise in sculleries, and warhorses ride the skies.
Soon those warhorses will blow you up, the surgeons will slice you open, and the monsters will tear you apart.
But it’s your big brother you’ll really need to watch out for … He’ll scare the ears off you.
Featuring an exclusive foreword by acclaimed bus driver Baldomero Izquierdo, and over 60 stunning illustrations, this dark urban fairy tale is a must for anyone who’s ever been beleaguered, bejumbled, or fed to a monster.
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How far will you go to save your brother?
And how far to save your own skin?
In an alternate World War II, deranged hero Retired Air Marshal Hazzlethrop seizes the village of Fernlaith Hill ‘for the greater good.’ With all able adults fighting abroad, she places the rest under a punishing workload and turns the school into a military academy.
A nameless orphan (known as Balloons to his friends) is tasked with leading a squadron of rowdy headbangers. Threatened with drowning should he fail to control them, Balloons panics. To appear tough, he sends his brother Easily on a deadly mission. But the mission is a disaster and Easily is viciously attacked by Hazzlethrop’s arsenal of living weapons – with horrific repercussions.
Changed beyond recognition and now a danger to everyone, the villagers want him locked far, far away. Hazzlethrop would rather him slaughtered on the battlefield. Balloons realises their only hope is to escape Fernlaith Hill forever. But the weapons have also escaped, taking with them something precious to Easily. If he is to have any future, the boys must retrieve it.
And that means a journey into the heart of darkness …
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Francis O’Dowd is a Scottish writer and illustrator whose pen and ink drawings perfectly complement his Pythonesque storytelling: the whimsical & surreal against the grittiness of everyday life. For many years he was the chairperson of a youth music charity. He has recorded several albums of music including full length soundtracks for his novels Wishhobbler and Hopesgrave Easily. His YouTube channel features book trailers, music videos and readings. Francis lives in Scotland with his wife, their daughter and two sons, several dogs and Guinea pigs, and has a time machine parked in the back garden. He was once asked for his autograph by Tom Baker, who used to be terribly famous.