by Piers Torday, 2015. Paperback, 352 pages. Ages 8-12.
In a world where animals are slowly fading into extinction, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes feels as if he hardly exists either. He’s been locked away in a home for troubled children and is unable to speak a word. Then one night, a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach come to help him escape, and he discovers that he can speak—to them. And the animals need him. Only Kester, with the aid of a stubborn, curious girl named Polly, can help them survive.
The animals saved Kester. But can he save them?
About the Author
A former theatre and television producer, Piers Torday’s books include The Last Wild (Shortlisted for Waterstones Children’s Book Prize), The Dark Wild (Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize), The Wild Beyond, There May Be a Castle (People’s Book Award finalist) and The Lost Magician (Teach Primary Book Award) and The Frozen Sea. His latest book is The Wild Before (August 2021). His work has been translated into 14 languages.
The son of Paul Torday (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), he completed his father’s final unfinished novel, The Death of an Owl and co-founded the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for Debut Novelists over 60.
