Overview

Under the bloody rule of King Arthur - as the cruel knights of the round table wage wars and hunt magical creatures - the ordinary people of Camelot are getting sick. Really sick. Something is poisoning the land. No one in Arthur's court seems to care, but a spark of hope remains... The Holy Grail could save them all, and two children embark on a quest to find it. Shy, gentle Roan, a young dog keeper who works for the knights, is desperate to find a cure for his mum. He befriends Elva, a generous and outspoken kitchenhand with her own reasons for seeking the elusive Grail. Together, can they beat the knights to find it? And will drinking from it save Roan's mum? Clare Pollard's first book for children revisits Arthurian legends in a thrilling tale of adventure and mystery. *The Untameables* turns traditional folklore on its head and forces us to think about how legends are written and whose stories get told. Beautifully illustrated by Reena Makwana.

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9781915628268

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Reviews

“The writing style is sharp and accessible, often feeling like an oral storytelling session, as befits the author’s experience as a poet. Roan’s vulnerability and Elva’s strength nicely flip the traditional gender roles that are often found in historical fiction, giving young readers a pair of well-rounded and identifiable protagonists to root for. A charming tale of friendship and bravery that will appeal to fans of Kate DiCamillo and Eva Ibbotson.” -- Melanie Dillon

"“The writing style is sharp and accessible, often feeling like an oral storytelling session, as befits the author’s experience as a poet. Roan’s vulnerability and Elva’s strength nicely flip the traditional gender roles that are often found in historical fiction, giving young readers a pair of well-rounded and identifiable protagonists to root for. A charming tale of friendship and bravery that will appeal to fans of Kate DiCamillo and Eva Ibbotson.” -- Melanie Dillon ""Funny, thought-provoking and intensely satisfying."" -- Imogen Russell Williams 4/5 - ""Folklore has been a frequent theme in Pollard’s poetry, and she writes with the precision of someone thoroughly at home in her milieu… The plot moves briskly, and the engaging, chatty prose will find much appeal with younger readers."" -- Emily Bearn"

Author Information

Clare Pollard was born in Bolton in 1978 and currently lives in South London with her husband and two children. She has published five collections of poetry with Bloodaxe, most recently Incarnation (2017), and her poem 'Pollen' was nominated for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2022. She has been involved in numerous poetry translation projects, including co-translating The Sea-Migrations by Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf (Bloodaxe, 2017) which received a PEN Translates award and was Sunday Times Poetry Book of the Year. She edited Modern Poetry in Translation for five years and is poetry editor for The Idler. As well as appearances on The Verb, Woman's Hour, Poetry Please and Newsnight Review, she has written and presented two documentaries for television and two for radio, most recently 'Unlocking Anne' (BBC Radio 3, 2023), about the poet Anne Lock. Clare wrote the non-fiction title Fierce Bad Rabbits: The Tales Behind Children's Picture Books (Penguin, 2019) and her latest book is the adult novel Delphi (Fig Tree, UK / Avid Reader, US, 2022).

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