The Alchemist's Apprentice
Jack is on the run. Alone in the world with nowhere to turn, he finds a strange object floating on the rising tide of the Thames. In trying to assess the value of the relic Jack meets Barnstable, an alchemist who only adds to the boy's perplexity by his enigmatic ways. Dramatic events escalate and Jack's fortunes change beyond all expectation. But the mystery surrounding the alchemist won't go away. Has he really discovered the secret of making gold?
In this gripping novel, Kate Thompson, master storyteller, describes the extraordinary adventures of a boy trying to understand what really matters in the world.
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Kate Thompson
Kate Thompson (born 1956) is an award-winning writer for children and adults. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, she has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. While Kate Thompson's children's fiction is primarily fantasy, several of her books also deal with the consequences of genetic engineering.
She has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award four times, for The Beguilers, The Alchemist's Apprentice, Annan Water and The New Policeman. The New Policeman was also awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Dublin Airport Authority Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005. Creature of the Night was shortlisted for the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize, and has been shortlisted for the 2009 Carnegie Medal.
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