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  • Published: 1 September 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409012986
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 192

Frozen Billy




Two children are drawn into helping with a ventriloquist's act in this creepy Victorian tale from multi-award-winning author Anne Fine.

'I hate Frozen Billy - his painted, staring wooden eyes, the way his eyelids click when Uncle Len pulls a string, his long thin legs and his bright red wooden mouth . . . '

Clarrie and Will live with their Uncle Len - a brilliant ventriloquist in the nearby music hall. But though Len loves his act almost as much as he loves his beer, Top Billing is out of his grasp until Will thinks up a way to double the drama with a new act and some extraordinary new patter that he and Frozen Billy can share on stage.

It's a grand idea, hatched in hope and excitement. But, to Clarrie's horror, soon it begins to turn terribly sour . . .

Anne Fine's novel combines her trademark humour, engaging characters and flawless prose to produce a spooky adventure set in the late-Victorian world of the music hall.

  • Published: 1 September 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409012986
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 192

About the author

Anne Fine

Anne Fine is one of our most distinguished writers for children. She has written over fifty highly acclaimed books and has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and both the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Carnegie Medal twice over. Anne was appointed the Children’s Laureate from 2001-3, and her work has been translated into over forty languages. In 2003 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Anne lives in County Durham.

Anne Fine was born and educated in the Midlands, and now lives in County Durham. She has written numerous highly acclaimed and prize-winning books for children and adults.
Her novel The Tulip Touch won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award; Goggle-Eyes won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal, and was adapted for television by the BBC; Flour Babies won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award; Bill's New Frock won a Smarties Prize, and Madame Doubtfire has become a major feature film starring Robin Williams. Anne was the Children's Laureate 2001 - 2003 and won an OBE in 2003.

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Praise for Frozen Billy

Fine's genius for storytelling reaches new heights: simple, direct and with a subtle period feel to the narrative and dialogue

Independent

Full of terrific characters and deceptions and intrigues

TES

Unsettling and atmospheric, this story of a young brother and sister boldly making their own fates is told in the voice of the girl with lightness and simplicity but covers dark and complex territory before reaching its happy ending

The Sunday Times