Silver Blade

Sally Gardner is an award-winning novelist from London. Her books have been translated into 22 languages and have sold more than one million copies in the UK. Her historical novel for older readers, I, Coriander, won the Smarties Children's Book Prize in 2005. Two thrillers both set at the time of the French Revolution, The Red Necklace and The Silver Blade, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2009, followed. Actor Dominic West (The Wire) has bought the film rights to both titles. Her YA novel, The Double Shadow, was published in 2011 to critical acclaim. Sally Gardner's stories for middle readers include Lucy Willow and the popular Magical Children series of six titles: The Strongest Girl in the World, The Invisible Boy, The Boy with Magic Numbers, The Smallest Girl in the World, The Boy with the Lightning Feet, and The Boy who could Fly, which are also available as audio books. She has also written and illustrated picture books including The Fairy Catalogue, The Glass Heart, The Book of Princesses and Playtime Rhymes. Sally Gardner continues to be an avid spokesperson for dyslexia, working to change the way it is perceived by society. She is dyslexic and argues that it is not a disability, but a gift.

Her website is www.sallygardner.net and you can follow her on Twitter @TheSallyGardner

"As well as providing a terrific insight into a brutal and sometimes horrific period of European history the reader will find many threads - secrets, magic, heroism and murder as well as a touching love story - to keep them turning the pages to the very end." LOVEREADING.COM "There is magic, romance, a hint of gothic coupled with vivid vignettes of Parisian life in all its post revolutionary squalor. The writing is beautiful, never forced and everything is cleverly woven together like an intricate tapestry. I would urge any fans of well written historical fiction aged 9 to 99 to read The Silver Blade and to succumb to the seduction of this master storyteller." LOVELY TREEZ BLOG "I really enjoyed reading this novel, even more so than the first. I loved the mixture between love, tragedy and the heat of the French Revolution. The descriptive writing in the novel was extremely good and really helped me to believe the story, and above all the plotline was fantastic with a twist I would never have been able to imagine." -- Summer (teen reviewer) CHICKLISH BLOG

Another fast-moving, action-packed page-turner The Bookseller 20080613