Bøker av Kathryn Purnell

The ghost of Louis XIV reflects on life and loves in Versailles.

A book for children and young adults, Sam in July tells the story of a young boy who wakes up confused in a boxcar on a train to Dean''s Marsh in the Otway Ranges of south-western Victoria, Australia. The story of Sam is set in that month of July in a year at the turn of the century when he was nine and he both lost and found himself on the wooded rises and in the deep gullies of the Otways. How did he get there? Well, there would not be a story at all without the big Scot Geordie Brown and his beloved farm; Granny Mare, who knows the pathways; and Flora of the secrets, who adores pheasants. There is the unexpected laugh of a little ghost, but the haunting question is - who is Sam?

Elm Tree Terrace is host to an odd collection of guests. Colin Jepson, a young graduate from Sydney, turns up unannounced to look for a room. Mary Mercy who checks his references puzzles Colin: she is not English, but perhaps European, yet her dress belies this. Colin is entranced by her eyes. The other guests at the boarding house fit their stereotypes: a middle-aged school teacher from Scotland and a couple visiting from Adelaide. The boarding house manager, Mr Suddern, seems out of place. Huston, his business partner, is suave with an air of mystery. Colin takes a bus ride with Mary, ending up at London zoo. She tells him of growing up in the Belgian Congo, and of her strange relationship with Huston. Could there be blackmail involved? When Huston demands Colin give up his room, and an eminent physician comes to dinner, the truth behind the Adelaide man and Huston is revealed.