Product Description

Set seventy years before "The Various", the second book in the trilogy follows the adventures of young Celandine at the onset of the First World War. Having run away from her detested boarding school, Celandine is too afraid to go home in case she is sent back. As she seeks shelter in the Wild Wood near her home, little does she think she will encounter in a world where loyalty and independence is fiercely guarded, and where danger lurks in the most unlikely places. Celandine's troubled character finds both refuge and purpose among the secret tribes of little people that she alone believes in. These novels are full of mystery, beauty and adventure; this second novel is both page-turning and life-affirming. This is a truly remarkable trilogy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40510 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From the Inside Flap
She reached up to turn the brass door handle of the second-class carriage, and felt that this time she would succeed, that the sunshine train would take her away from all that was hateful and bring her safely home, at last, to her friends.
The year is 1915, Britain is at war, and life for Celandine has become unbearable.
Bullied at boarding school where she is accused of being a witch, and haunted by the loss of her brother, Celandine runs away to a place known only to her: the secret world of the little people.
But her existence among the Various is no less dangerous than the one she has left behind, for the little people are also at war, and Celandine is in the line of fire. . .
Hypnotic, powerful and uplifting, Steve Augard's extraordinary sequel to The Various will take you beyond fantasy to a place where the magical becomes real, and the real becomes magical.

From the Back Cover
Not everything in this world can be understood by us, nor should it be . . .

The year is 1915, Britain is at war, and life for Celandine has become unbearable. Bullied at boarding school and haunted by the loss of her brother, Celandine runs away to a place known only to her: the secret world of the little people.

But her existence among the Various is no less dangerous than the one she left behind, for the little people are also at war, and Celandine is in the line of fire . . .

Hypnotic and uplifting, Steve Augarde's extraordinary sequel to The Various will take you to a place where the magical becomes real, and the real becomes magical.

'Quality fantasy writing with a fine feel for the past' Publishing News

Praise for The Various, winner of a Smarties Medal:
'A children's classic' Sunday Telegraph
'The narrative pace never falters . . . the reader is drawn gladly into the enchantment' Guardian

About the Author
Steve Augarde was born in Birmingham, but spent most of his life in the West Country, working as an illustrator, paper-engineer, and semi-pro jazz musician. He has written and illustrated over 70 picture-books for younger children, and has produced the paper-engineering for many pop-up books, including those by other artists - as well as providing the artwork and music for two animated BBC television series. Steve is married with two daughters and lives in Yorkshire.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic faery world
This is the second in a trilogy about The Various, a tribe of faery folk who live in the woods near to Celandine's home. This episode takes part during WW1, when Celendine runs away from her boarding school and discovers the home of `little people'. First she has to prove to them that she isn't a feared giant but a true friend, and gradually she earns their trust. They then allow her to move in with them and she teaches them to read, write and sing. All is not calm and peaceful though because the tribe that Celandine live with are at war with another tribe. Their lives are fraught with danger and the book is packed with adventure, drama, magic, humour and heartbreak.

Steve Augarde has created a fantastic faery world and I cannot wait for the final instalment

Worth the wait!
This long awaited sequel to "The Various" will take you back to an era almost a century ago, just before the outbreak of World War I and before women’s’ rights. Celandine is “different”, an exotically beautiful and high spirited young girl not only misunderstood by adults but by those her own age, too. Her parents fail to recognize that she has a very special magic, and therefore she is the forgotten one in a family of two older brothers, a loving but helpless mother, and a stern, unforgiving father. So not knowing what else to do with her after Celandine finally retaliates following several incidents with a cruel, sadistic governess (which her parents refuse to acknowledge or believe), they send her off to boarding school, where she is teased and taunted by the other students and severely disciplined by her teachers. But Celandine has a secret. Before being sent to away to school, during an accident in which she strikes her head while playing with her brother on the vast property owned by her father, she meets Fin, a member of The Various, a tribe of little people living unnoticed among the “Gorgi”, or giants – humans, like Celandine herself, who are fighting for their survival. Breaking all rules of the tribe, Fin takes her through a secret tunnel to meet them. Once Celandine convinces the Various she is not their enemy, they accept her help – everything from useful gifts like fishing hooks to teaching them to read and write. Their trust in her is complete when they offer their home among the hidden caves in the forest as a refuge when circumstances at school become too horrifying to bear and Celandine learns of an unspeakable tragedy at home…events that make it impossible for her to return. She is lost, she is lonely, but somehow she becomes part of this strange, mystical community as she struggles to come to terms with all that has happened while realizing that The Various themselves are in terrible danger as well from not only the outside world but from forces within their own ranks -- and that this danger extends to her, too. Celandine's experiences are a fascinating mixture of humor and heartache that make for a fast paced, nail biting adventure, and there is a direct link to her own personal torment and joy to that of The Various. Like them, she is a lost soul who is searching for a place in what seems to be a cold, cruel world, and the book’s tender, beautiful conclusion will have many reaching for a box of tissues.

Celandine
Every once in a while a children's book bursts upon the literary scene and carries children of all ages before it.
Celandine is one that belongs in the company of such classics as Watership Down, The Secret Garden, and the later Harry Potter books.
Set in the Somerset levels at the time of the First World War, it brilliantly evokes the brutality of home education under a sadistic governess, the even greater tribulations of a callously cruel boarding school, interspersed with flights into the world of the Various.
Running parallel to the troubles of our heroine, Celandine, the Northern tribes of the Various are engaged in a hazardous trek to seek the long lost Southern survivors that have formed a secret enclave in a wood on the farm where Celandine lives.
The course of the narrative, although riveting, must remain unrevealed here for fear of reducing the huge pleasure that any reader is boumd to experience.