Description

Fairytale and history, wilderness and civilisation collide in this brilliant and magical new novel from the author of Little Exiles.

In Belarus, a land of endless ancient forests, an orphaned boy must scatter his mother’s ashes. His mama has exacted a solemn promise: to stay beside and protect grandfather, whatever happens.

On their journey into the woodland, hunks of mama’s delicious gingerbread sustain the young boy as grandfather’s magical tales push the harsh world away.

But the driving snow masks a frozen history of long-buried secrets. And as man and child forage further, grandfather’s tales turn to terrible truths of times past.

Fairytale and history interweave in this magical, haunting tale of the lengths a boy must go to, in order to survive.

Publisher Review

Praise for Gingerbread:`Gingerbread is a novel of perfect balance, where past reaches into present, cruel history into fable, and the land itself, the forests of old, into vulnerable human hearts. With each turn of the page the atmosphere intensifies...' ALI SHAW, author of The Girl With Glass FeetPraise for Little Exiles:`A superb novel' DAILY MAIL`A heartbreaking story, very powerfully dramatised' THE TIMES`LITTLE EXILES ... it's knockout - Robert has his own unique voice and his own angle on an extraordinary period of history. It's just beautifully written and told with such emotional precision, with a character in Jon Heather who is completely beguiling and so worth fighting for. I really, really loved it. If I hadn't made Oranges and Sunshine I would definitely be thinking about its potential for screen' Jim Loach, Director of Oranges & Sunshine