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  • Published: 28 June 2010
  • ISBN: 9781742530918
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 312

The Life of a Teenage Body-snatcher



Thomas Timewell is sixteen and a gentleman. When he meets a body-snatcher called Plenitude, his whole life changes.

Thomas Timewell is sixteen and a gentleman. When he meets a body-snatcher called Plenitude, his whole life changes. He is pursued by cutthroats, a gypsy with a meat cleaver, and even the Grim Reaper. More disturbing still, Thomas has to spend an evening with the worst novelist in the world.
A very black comedy set in England in 1828, The Life of a Teenage Body-snatcher shows what terrible events can occur when you try to do the right thing. 'Never a good idea,' as Thomas's mother would say.

  • Published: 28 June 2010
  • ISBN: 9781742530918
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 312

About the author

Doug MacLeod

Author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, songwriter and editor Doug MacLeod
wrote 26 books for children and young adults, published in Australia and around the world, beginning with Tales of Tuttle, published by Puffin in 1985. Many were bestsellers and won awards, including Sister Madge’s Book of Nuns (1986).
In 2008 the Australian Writers' Guild awarded him the Fred Parsons award for contribution to Australian comedy. He worked as head writer for some of Australia’s most popular TV comedy shows including The Comedy Company, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, Col’n Carpenter, Kylie Mole and Wedlocked. He also wrote for Big Girls’ Blouse, The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) and SeaChange, and was the script editor on Kath & Kim.
He also devised and co-wrote the animated series Dogstar screened all over the world, for which he won two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards and the inaugural John Hinde Award for Science Fiction. His best known book Sister Madge's Book of Nuns started as a practical joke on a publisher. He published more than twenty books with Penguin including Tigers on the Beach; The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher, a CBCA Honour Book in 2012 shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the Aurealis Awards; and The Shiny Guys, shortlisted for the 2013 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. One of his novels, The Clockwork Forest, was presented as a play by The Sydney Theatre Company in 2008, and in 2013 he wrote Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert, a musical about the life of Margaret Fulton.

Also by Doug MacLeod

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Awards & recognition

CBCA Book of the Year Awards

Honour Award  •  2011  •  Older Readers

Prime Minister's Literary Award

Highly commended  •  2011  •  Young Adult Fiction

Aurealis Awards

Shortlisted  •  2011  •  Best Young Adult Novel

Victorian Premier's Literary Award

Shortlisted  •  2011  •  Writing for Young Adults

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature

Shortlisted  •  2012  •  Young Adult Fiction