Praise for FIRESONG
‘The warmth of feeling and touches of comedy make the trilogy a triumph’
The Times
‘Powerful imaginative energy and emotional force’
Sunday Times
‘A gripping narrative and a questing intelligence’
Daily Telegraph
‘Nicholson’s achievement is worthy of acclaim and should mellow into a classic’
The Times
‘Our storytime reading of choice’
Scotsman
Praise for THE WIND SINGER and SLAVES OF THE MASTERY
‘Truly extraordinary’
Daily Telegraph
‘An original and striking read’
Melvin Burgess
‘. . . A gripping read . . . A beautifully narrated, warm thriller of a book, full of inventiveness, action and passion’
Guardian
‘Gloriously cinematic and completely enthralling’
Independent
‘Rich in characters . . . a gripping adventure’
Sunday Times
‘A journey that will leave you breathless’
Bookseller
Books by William Nicholson
The Wind on Fire Trilogy
The Wind Singer
Slaves of the Mastery
Firesong
The Noble Warriors Trilogy
Seeker
Jango
Noman
For older readers
Rich and Mad
First published in Great Britain 2002
This edition published 2011
by Egmont UK Limited
239 Kensington High Street
London W8 6SA
Text copyright © 2002 William Nicholson
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN 978 1 4052 3971 4
eISBN 978 1 7803 1212 5
www.egmont.co.uk www.williamnicholson.co.uk
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Contents
1 The view from the sourgum tree