The Current - fiction authors M

All Rivers Flow to the Sea

Alison McGhee

Seventeen year old Rose was in her sister’s car when it was hit by a truck, leaving her sister in a coma on a life-support machine. Her mum never visits, unable to cope with reality. Rose is left to wander through life feeling bereft of sister and mother. This sensitive story takes us through Rose’s emotional journey towards acceptance of the inevitable.

9781844282517 Walker, 2007

Henry Tumour

Anthony McGowan

A darkly comic novel, which explores the life of a boy called Hector who has a ‘talking’ brain tumour. The tumour turns out to be an alter-ego giving advice on haircuts, clothes and girls. It causes him to make decisions about his life that he would rather not make, and this is while coping with the everyday demands of school, friends and family. He tries to overpower the tumour before it gets the better of him.

9780099488231 Red Fox, 2007

Girl, Missing

Sophie McKenzie

Adopted as a toddler, Lauren is struggling with an essay on ‘Who am I?’ Her research leads her to think she was snatched from an American family as a baby and her search for the truth takes her to America where she discovers that her kidnappers are prepared to do anything to keep her silent. This gripping thriller is based on the real-life case of a toddler who went missing in the early ‘90s and won the author the Red House Book Award for Older readers. This is also the Richard and Judy best book for older readers.

9781416917328 Simon & Schuster, 2006

Twin Freaks

Paul Magrs

Eunice and Helen, ‘the freaky girls’, follow TV talent show auditions around the country. Their mum is always pushing them to do better. One is beautiful with a terrible voice while her sister is just the opposite. Eventually they arrive at an act with which they are successful. A satirical reflection on the current reality TV industry.

9781416926702 Simon & Schuster, 2007

The Declaration

Gemma Malley

It is 2140 and society demands that anyone born in contradiction to the Declaration (and therefore surplus to requirements) must be kept hidden in a Surplus Hall. Anna is held in Grange Hall and confides only to her diary what she suffers to be a Valuable Asset to the society where scientific discoveries ensure that no one ages or dies and it has been deemed that childbirth is almost unnecessary. That is until she meets another Surplus and they plan to escape from the Hall and from society’s constraints.

9780747587750 Bloomsbury Sep2007

Becoming Bindy Mackenzie

Jaclyn Moriarty

Bindy Mackenzie is a kind and very smart Year 11 student who offers lunchtime advisory sessions to share her knowledge. However, she discovers that nobody actually likes her, so she records all her thoughts in a hilarious diary. The main characters from Jaclyn Moriarty’s previous books also feature in the story.

9780330438858 Young Picador, 2007

Mad Dogs

Robert Muchamore

Another thriller in the popular Cherub series, about the agency that secretly recruits and trains teenagers as spies. When two of the gang controlling the British underworld start a turf war, the police need information fast in order to stop the violence that is spilling onto the streets. James Adams is a Cherub with the right contacts to infiltrate the most dangerous gang of all.

9780340911716 Hodder Children's, 2007