Punch

Wrong place. Wrong time. A boy on the run. THE MARKET’S ON FIRE. FIRE! FIRE! THE BOY DID IT! Smoke belches out through the market entrance. And me? I turn and run. Inverness 1889. When 12-year-old Phin is accused of a terrible crime, his only option is to flee. In the unlikely company of an escaped prisoner and a group of travelling entertainers, he enters a new world of Punch and Judy shows and dancing bears. But will Phin clear his name? And what can he do when memories of a darker, more terrible crime begin to haunt him? PUNCH is good proper storytelling, packed with colourful characters, shifting settings and real tension. Like Punch's nose I was hooked and with Phineas every fleeing, hiding, performing page of the way. Janis MacKay Vivid, exhilarating, and heartwarming; a dramatic and colourful tale of life on the run. John K Fulton