How to Shit Around the World
"The book’s strength lies in the very personal quotations of real people who aren’t afraid to share their experiences."
Chigago Tribune
Himalayan Heist
This is an adventure story for adults and young adults. It is a breathlessly exciting page-turner, in the long tradition of quest stories.
The complex and shifting relationships of the three main protagonists – Alex and James, and their engaging girl companion Bim – are put to the test as they work their way through the beautiful and dangerous Nepalese landscape. They know what they have to do, but not what they will be required to face. Perils confront them at every turn, some natural, others man-made. The Nepalese landscape – presented in vivid and almost tactile clarity – can be beautiful, but also menacing.
In many adventure stories the characters are the main interest and the setting is little more than a lifeless backcloth; or the landscape is the writer’s real subject and the protagonists are anaemic stereotypes whose only purpose is to move the story forward. But here the characterisation is enmeshed within the action and the setting. Without noticing, readers find themselves caring about the characters, anxious when they are separated, comforted when they are reunited.
The author is a traveller. She writes about places and people she knows well, so there is an integrity in her writing and a total authenticity in the heft and feel of the story. So her accounts of the wildlife, the valleys and mountains and rivers, and the people the three main characters come across, have truth in them.
Victor Watson, editor of The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English
Himalayan Kidnap
This is an exotic adventure story about two brothers who have found out their parents have been kidnapped and must travel through the jungles of Nepal to find them. Their travels encounter fast flowing rivers and a maze of long dark cavernous caves with murderous men hot on their heels. I read this book not knowing if I would like it or not but by the first chapter it was hard not to get glued. I loved that this book gives you a taste for Nepali culture and an understanding of the animals that live there. Each chapter includes pictures of Nepalese animals some of which were new to me. I recommend this book to people age 8 and above.
Tess, aged 13