New World
The year is 1584 and fourteen-year-old Kit is living by his wits as a thief on the streets of Elizabethan London - a far-cry from his early childhood, when he lived a privileged life with his rich Catholic parents, who died when he was very small. The memory of his parents haunts Kit: his father was executed for plotting to kill the Queen but went to his death proclaiming his innocence. When Kit meets John White, a mapmaker and associate of Walter Raleigh, on the streets and White offers him a place in his household, Kit accepts.
Soon Kit finds himself with White on board The Tiger, bound for the New World as part of a voyage to found a new colony in Virginia. After surviving the many weeks at sea, a great storm and contact with the Spanish along the American coast, The Tiger finally reaches Virginia and the settlers establish a colony at Roanoake.
Life in the colony is hard, the relationship with the Indian tribes made precarious by the aggression of some of the English colonists. As trading with the tribes break down and winter sets in, food becomes scarce and the colonists struggle to survive. And Kit's past comes back to haunt him when an enemy suddenly reveals himself . . .
Chris Priestley was born in Hull, spent his childhood in Wales and Gibraltar and his teens in Newcastle upon Tyne. He went to art college in Manchester and then lived and worked in London for many years as an illustrator and cartoonist, mainly for newspapers and magazines. He has written a range of books for children, both fiction and non-fiction. He lives in Norfolk with his wife and son.
The Tom Marlowe Adventures are inspired by his own childhood love of historical novels. Death and the Arrow was shortlisted for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America in 2004 and Redwulf's Curse was shortlisted for the 2006 Lancashire Fantastic Book Award.