Once Upon a Wickedness
Author:
Fleur Beale
Illustrator:
Lily Uivel
Publisher:
Puffin
ISBN:
9781776958092
Date published:
29 August 2023
Pages:
208
Format:
Paperback
RRP:
$22.00
An exciting adventure novel for contemporary kids with a fairytale setting, a daring hero and message that you’re never too young and powerless to stand up to tyrants!
What happens when a group of school children, led by the resourceful ten-year-old Dance Violet, dare to ask those in power some hard questions? Find out in this magical novel by the bestselling Fleur Beale, stunningly illustrated by Lily Uivel.
Ten-year-old orphan Dance Violet might have had a short and troubled history, but it hasn’t dampened her warrior spirit – not in the slightest. And that’s a good thing, because something is rotten in her village, and no one else has the courage to try to put things right.
People have been disappearing overnight and the village children are left to fend for themselves under the tyrannical schoolteachers Murk and Misselthwaite. There are whispers that the trouble started ten years ago when a beautiful but wicked woman – ‘the golden-haired hellion’ – appeared at a wedding.
Dance has some powerful gifts that she’s only just beginning to discover, and while she knows it’s dangerous to ask questions, she’s determined to find this golden-haired hellion – even if it means getting disappeared.
When Dance finds her, the golden-haired hellion had better look out.
About the author:
Fleur Beale is the author of many award-winning books for children and young adults — she has published more than 40 books in New Zealand, as well as in the United States and England. A former high school teacher, Fleur was inspired to write her acclaimed novel I Am Not Esther when one of her students was beaten and expelled from his family for going against their religious beliefs. Fleur is a leading advocate for New Zealand authors, and home-grown literature for children and young adults.
