‘A delightful historical fantasy about the power of books – with a thoroughly unexpected heroine. Sophisticated, funny and fresh; I loved it’ Meg Rosoff

‘Frances Hardinge’s phenomenally inventive Fly By Night is remarkable and captivating, masterfully written and with a wealth of unexpected ideas… Full of marvels’ Sunday Times

‘Mosca is, rather like Philip Pullman’s Lyra, a fierce black-eyed street survivor… Fly By Night is like delving into a box of sweets with a huge array of flavours’ TES

‘Fly By Night is a wonderful and wondrous novel, wholly original while following brilliantly in the footsteps of Joan Aiken, Leon Garfield and DianaWynne Jones. Frances Hardinge has joined the company of writers whose books I will always seek out and read’ Garth Nix

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A fantastic adventure story set in an alternative historical world that launches the career of a uniquely talented children's writer. In a fractured Realm, struggling to maintain an uneasy peace after years of civil war and religious tyrrany, a 12- year- old orphan and a homicidal goose become the accidental heroes of a revolution. Mosca has spent her life in a miserable hamlet, where her father was banished for writing inflammatory books about tolerance and freedom. Now he is dead, and Mosca is on the run after unintentionally setting fire to a mill. With a delightful swindler named Eponymous Clent, she heads for the city of Mandelion. A born liar, Mosca lives by her wits in a world of highwaymen and smugglers, dangerously insane rulers in ludicrous wigs, secret agents and radical plotters. She is recruited as a spy by the fanatical Mabwick Toke, leader of the Guild of Stationers, who fears losing his control over the publication of every book in the state. Mosca's activities reveal a plot to force a rule of terror on the Realm, and merry mayhem soon leads to murder… FLY BY NIGHT is set in a re-imagined early-eighteenth century England, where kite-powered coffeehouses take to the river, and citizens lay offerings at the shrine of Goodman Blackwhistle of the Favourable Wind. Funny and surprising, stuffed with wonderful characters, at its heart it contains an inspiring truth – that the power of books can change the world.

Mosca Mye and Eponymous Clent are in trouble again. Escaping disaster by the skin of their teeth, they find refuge in Toll, the strange gateway town where visitors may neither enter nor leave without paying a price. By day, the city is well-mannered and orderly; by night, it's the haunt of rogues and villains. Wherever there's a plot, there's sure to be treachery, and wherever there's treachery, there's sure to be trouble – and where there's trouble, Clent, Mosca and the web-footed apocalypse Saracen can't be far behind. But as past deeds catch up with them and old enemies appear, it looks as if this time there's no way out…

Der trinkfreudige Coroner Sir John und sein scharfsinniger Schreiber Bruder Athelstan werden durch einige geheimnisvolle Morde bei ihren Recherchen auf die Spur eines geraubten Schatzes des Kalifen geführt - und erfahren die Leiden vergeblicher Liebe.

Paul Harding wurde 1967 in Wenham, Massachusetts, geboren und lebt mit seiner Frau und seinen beiden Söhnen in der Nähe von Boston. Er studierte Englische Literatur, war Schlagzeuger in einer Rockband und machte den Master in Creative Writing am Iowa Writers Workshop. Paul Harding war Stipendiat am Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown und Guggenheim Fellow und hat in Harvard und der University of Iowa unterrichtet. Für seinen ersten Roman "Tinkers" wurde er 2010 u.a. mit dem Pulitzerpreis ausgezeichnet.

»Vom schlachtschlagenden Ritter über steifgefrorene, am Galgen baumelnde Piraten und von Ratten angenagten Skeletten bis hin zu sinnierenden Meuchelmördern ist alles versammelt, was das mordliebende Herz begehrt. Das ist eben die schöne heile Welt des Mittelalters, in der ungeniert Urtriebe ausgelebt werden können. Macht auch beim Lesen viel Spaß.«

Three savage murders have occured in the parish, two at the hands of an assassin and one victims identity and death still a mystery. Could the deaths be related to one of Brother Athelstan's parishioners, accused of multiple murders in "the field of blood"?

This Monday, on April 12, the winners of the Pulitzer Prize were announced, and since then, little-known debut author Paul Harding has quickly risen to fame after his novel "Tinkers" won the Pulitzer for fiction.

The novel, about a dying man's recollection of and relationship with his father, a tinker in Maine, was turned down by every major publisher over the course of several years. It was finally published by Bellevue Literary Press, a small publisher associated with the NYU Medical School. Even after its publication and the excellent reviews across the board, few hoped for it to rise to the top. And when Harding was awarded the Pulitzer, the Boston Globe reports, he only found out by checking the award's website – nobody had bothered to call him. "Tinkers" is the first novel from a small press to win the Pulitzer since "Confederacy of Dunces" won in 1981 and everyone in the publishing industry is scrambling to take some part of the credit for the book's success.

The Boston Globe published an article early this week about the people who pushed "Tinkers" early on, claiming the success of the book as proof of the power of word of mouth. It began with Bellevue Press Editorial Director Erika Goldman saying, "It was so exquisite that I found myself – and this has never happened – weeping for the beauty of the prose." Publishers Weekly's Michael Coffey stayed up past midnight reading it – "not something I normally do." Lise Solomon, a sales representative in Northern California vowed, "I was going to make it a Bay Area bestseller."

But though the sentiments expressed in the Globe article ring true, Publishers Marketplace points out that the article unfortunately "mangl[es]" the timeline of the support for the book, and ends up "confus[ing] the record as much as clarify[ing]." Among other corrections, Publishers Marketplace points to the book's early placement on the Indie Next list and that the first review was in the Hartford Courant, two facts not mentioned by the Globe. Publishers Marketplace also claims to be on the lookout for the independent bookstores that spread the word about the book early on.

Whatever the chronology of the events, it is clear that readers across the board have fallen head over heels for "Tinkers." Publishers Weekly called it a "gorgeous example of novelistic craftsmanship," Booklist said that it is a "rare and beautiful novel of spiritual inheritance and acute psychological and metaphysical suspense," and Chris Bohjalian, writing for the Globe called it "a poignant exploration of where we may journey when the clock has barely a tick or two left and we really can't go anywhere at all." (HuffPost Books also recognized the novel in our "Best of the Best Books Lists" feature in December.) The New York Times, notably, was left in the dark about this book, and never reviewed it at all, as Gregory Cowles sheepishly admits in a PaperCuts blog.

For Paul Harding, the success has been incredible. The author, a former drummer for a rock band, said that he was "stunned," according to USA Today. "It was a little book from a little publisher that was hand-sold from start to finish," he said. He looks at the win in a practical sense, though: "I can afford to continue doing what I love to do."

Janet Ware, een verpleegster die veel met hem samenwerkte, is in de rechtszaal aanwezig als het vonnis over dokter David Hanson wordt uitgesproken. Ondanks de beschuldigingen en ondanks het feit dat David, noch zijn advocaat erin slagen zijn onschuld aan te tonen, is Janet er vast van overtuigd dat hij onschuldig is. Ze vindt het vreselijk en besluit om nu zelf verder te werken aan Davids droom: het leven voor kinderen veiliger te maken. Ze verlaat daarom het ziekenhuis en gaat medicijnen studeren om hem in alle opzichten te kunnen vervangen. Terwijl zij enthousiast aan het werk is, slaagt ze erin ook Peter Tandy, Davids vroegere assistent, over te halen samen met haar zijn schouders onder dit werk te zetten. Intussen is er echter heel wat met David Hanson gebeurd, waarvan Janet, noch Peter iets afweet. David zou namelijk bij het overbrengen naar de gevangenis bij een auto-ongeluk zijn gedood. In werkelijkheid is hij echter ontsnapt en een bevriend plastisch chirurg heelt hem het gezicht gegeven van een oude vriend, die, toen hij op weg was naar Australië, vermist raakte. Het wordt dan een bijzonder spannend en ondanks de moeilijkheden van David, ook een plezierig verhaal over David, zijn vroegere vrienden, en over Janet die rotsvast in hem bleef geloven.

SUMMARY: "This compact, adamantine début dips in and out of the consciousness of a New England patriarch named George Washington Crosby as he lies dying on a hospital bed in his living room, 'right where they put the dining room table, fitted with its two extra leaves for holiday dinners'...In Harding's skillful evocation, Crosby's life, seen from its final moments, becomes a mosaic of memories, 'showing him a different self every time he tried to make an assessment.'"- The New Yorker "Harding's interest is in the universalities: nature and time and the murky character of memory...The small, important recollections are rendered with an exactitude that is poetic...Harding's prose is lyrical and specific...Tinkers is a poignant exploration of where we may journey when the clock has barely a tick or two left and we really can't go anywhere at all."- The Boston Globe " Tinkers is truly remarkable... It confers on the reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of ghostly proximity to other human souls."- Marilynne Robinson , Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Home and Gilead "In astounding language sometimes seemingly struck by lightning, sometimes as tight and complicated as clockwork, Harding shows how enormous fiction can be, and how economical. Read this book and marvel."- Elizabeth McCracken , author of Niagara Falls All Over Again "Tinkers is a remarkable piece of work...fascinating-and sometimes horrific-to read, and is cumulatively moving because it is woven together into the single quilt of our humanity."- Barry Unsworth , Booker Prizewinning author of The Ruby in Her Navel An old man lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature. Paul Harding has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and teaches creative writing at Harvard. He lives in Georgetown, Massachusetts. SUMMARY: "This compact, adamantine début dips in and out of the consciousness of a New England patriarch named George Washington Crosby as he lies dying on a hospital bed in his living room, 'right where they put the dining room table, fitted with its two extra leaves for holiday dinners'...In Harding's skillful evocation, Crosby's life, seen from its final moments, becomes a mosaic of memories, 'showing him a different self every time he tried to make an assessment.'"- The New Yorker "Harding's interest is in the universalities: nature and time and the murky character of memory...The small, important recollections are rendered with an exactitude that is poetic...Harding's prose is lyrical and specific...Tinkers is a poignant exploration of where we may journey when the clock has barely a tick or two left and we really can't go anywhere at all."- The Boston Globe " Tinkers is truly remarkable... It confers on the reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of ghostly proximity to other human souls."- Marilynne Robinson , Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Home and Gilead "In astounding language sometimes seemingly struck by lightning, sometimes as tight and complicated as clockwork, Harding shows how enormous fiction can be, and how economical. Read this book and marvel."- Elizabeth McCracken , author of Niagara Falls All Over Again "Tinkers is a remarkable piece of work...fascinating-and sometimes horrific-to read, and is cumulatively moving because it is woven together into the single quilt of our humanity."- Barry Unsworth , Booker Prizewinning author of The Ruby in Her Navel An old man lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature. Paul Harding has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and teaches creative writing at Harvard. He lives in Georgetown, Massachusetts.

In diesem historischen Roman erwacht das kraftstrotzende, prächtige London des Mittelalters zu neuem Leben. Spannende Abenteuer mit John, Coroner des Königs, und seinem Schreiber Athelstan - ein ungleiches Paar, das wieder einmal auf der Suche nach einem Mörder ist.

Sir John Cranston, der Coroner der Stadt, ist zu einem großen Bankett am Hofe des Regenten eingeladen. Dort läßt er sich leichtsinnigerweise auf eine Wette mit dem Herzog von Cremona, Signor Gian Galeazzo, ein, der ihn herausfordert, einen mysteriösen Mordfall binnen zweier Wochen zu lösen. Im scharlachroten Zimmer in einem der Herrenhäuser des Herzogs wurden Männer tot aufgefunden. Man fand an ihnen keinerlei Verletzungen, und auch Gift als Todesursache kann ausgeschlossen werden. Sir John muß dieses Rätsel lösen, denn sein guter Ruf und auch seine guten Geschäfte stehen auf dem Spiel.

»Vom schlachtschlagenden Ritter über steifgefrorene, am Galgen baumelnde Piraten und von Ratten angenagten Skeletten bis hin zu sinnierenden Meuchelmördern ist alles versammelt, was das mordliebende Herz begehrt. Das ist eben die schöne heile Welt des Mittelalters, in der ungeniert Urtriebe ausgelebt werden können. Macht auch beim Lesen viel Spaß.«

Winter 1379: Sir John Cranstone, Coroner der Stadt London, muß sich mit einer Serie geheimnisvoller Diebstähle in den Häusern reicher Handelsherren beschäftigen. Gleichzeitig bereitet Athelstan, Dominikaner und Schreiber des Sir John, ein Mysterienspiel in seiner Gemeinde vor. All das wird plötzlich unwichtig, als mehrere englische Schiffe, die im Auftrag des Königs französische Küstenorte ausgeplündert habe, um die Staatskasse aufzufüllen, in der Themse vor Anker gehen. Der Tod eines Kapitäns, zwei weitere Morde und drei spurlos verschwundene Seeleute stellen Sir John und Athelstan vor eine beinahe unlösbare Aufgabe. Im Zuge ihrer Nachforschungen stoßen sie auf Skandale, Intriegen und sogar Hochverrat. Als französische Kriegsschiffe für die englische Piraterie Rache üben wollen, wird es lebensgefährlich. …

Der trinkfreudige Coroner Sir John und sein scharfsinniger Schreiber Bruder Athelstan werden durch einige geheimnisvolle Morde bei ihren Recherchen auf die Spur eines geraubten Schatzes des Kalifen geführt – und erfahren die Leiden vergeblicher Liebe.