» Synopsis » First three chapters » Read an extract
After Katie’s Zoo I wanted to write something a bit less frantic. I’d also had a vague idea going round at the back of my mind about a mythical figure who is said to return lost things.
The result was The Willow Keeper, a mystery novel for the 10+ age group. The book is about a boy called Sam and what happens to him and his family when lost things begin reappearing.
We also learn quite early on that Sam’s dad is missing, although the truth about what happened to him won’t come out until much later.
Here’s a short extract from Chapter 4:
There’s this dream I have sometimes. It starts with me waking up in bed and it’s dark but just beginning to get light. There’s nobody else awake and I’m just falling asleep again when I hear a buzzing noise coming from somewhere. I get up and go out onto the landing and that’s when I see a thin crack of light coming from under the bathroom door.
I push the door open and the buzzing gets louder. I squint into the brightness and the room looks empty at first until I notice a bluebottle flying round and round the ceiling. It’s a pretty big one but I’m still surprised I could hear it all the way from the bedroom. When it sees me, the bluebottle flies over to the window and stops right next to it. It makes me laugh because most flies go mad trying to get through the glass but this one’s just sitting there, like a dog waiting to be let out.
I reach forwards to open the window but then I stop. It’s something in the way the bluebottle is looking at me. I say, ‘Dad?’ and he says, ‘You’re a good boy, Sam.’ I give him a hug, and it’s one of those lovely big hugs that warms you right through, until you don’t even notice the cold floor against your bare feet. Dad keeps saying, ‘You’re a good boy, Sam,’ and I’m crying even though I feel happier than I’ve ever been. His arms are wrapped around me like he’ll never let go. And then he says, ‘It’s time, son.’ I give him one last squeeze and then I open the window and he’s gone, and I hold my breath until the buzzing has faded away into nothing.
That’s when I wake up for real and I’m back in bed and when I lift my head up and listen there’s no buzzing, just silence. It’s only when I lie down again that I realise my cheeks are all wet, and I have to roll over to find a dry place on the pillow.