Johnny Swanson

A rip-roaring mystery adventure with the most unlikely hero ever.

There is a kind of children's book which is rare, but which includes some of the very best literature for the young. The Silver Sword, Goodnight Mr Tom, The Butterfly Lion, The Railway Children and Kim all belong to a genre in which there is no magic, but a tremendous sense of what real children in adversity might achieve with courage, cleverness and luck. Eleanor Updale's Johnny Swanson belongs to this category, and it deserves the highest praise

This is a lovely story, full of fascinating and accurate period detail, social injustice and moral quandaries, that revels in a child's determination to play the unfair system to his advantage. Young fans of Updale's Montmorency series will find this equally entertaining

Eleanor Updale is an excellent storyteller, building up character, plot and excitement until the reader is compelled to stop everything else until the book is finished

Eleanor Updale's very funny Johnny Swanson introduces a great character . . . The story swings along, providing dastardly villains, inept policemen and a satisfying denouement

Johnny Swanson is a charmingly old fashioned - in the very best way - adventure novel. This is a great read, it zips along and illuminates a period of history that is usually forgotten

Super old-fashioned adventure story set in 1929, featuring murder, mayhem, scam adverts and medical malpractice. Thank heavens for the dollop of courage and tenacity. A truly fun read

Many twists and turns, much humour, lots of adventures and a good dollop of fascinating period detail . . . Altogether most engaging and entertaining: the sort of book that is blissfully easy to read without being mindless. Smashing fun

Like the best children's books, it's about children, not simplified or toned down for them

This book is distinguished among other features by the immensely convincing background detail of the period setting . . . The characterisation is exemplary, Johnny and his mother being convincing and winning protagonists. This is a remarkable book

Filled with action and suspense, this is a book you will not want to stop reading. A great plot, with an unguessable villain!

Eleanor Updale has been writing books since the turn of the century. Before that she worked in radio and television: mainly on news programmes including The World at One and Newsnight. Eleanor's 'Montmorency' series has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, and Johnny Swanson was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards and won the Fantastic Book Award. 
 
You can find out more at www.eleanorupdale.com

Johnny Swanson is in shock. His friend Doctor Langdon and his wife have disappeared without a trace. And that's not all . . . it appears they have been murdered. 
 
But things are about to become much, much worse. A suspect has been arrested . . . and it's Johnny's mother. Johnny knows she didn't do it. And now, he needs to prove it - fast. 
 
Join brave, determined, ingenious Johnny as he embarks on a fast-paced hunt for the true killer - and exposes a deadly, dangerous secret along the way.

Eleanor Updale

This is an  outstanding novel for mature readers of any age and adds lustre to Updale’s  established brilliance.

This is a very clever and compelling piece of writing.

This is high concept stuff...  It’s a simply brilliant idea and it’s perfectly executed: humorously, movingly, excitingly and without any surplus detail or description.

One of the things I love about the children's author Eleanor Updale is that she's impossible to pigeonhole. And now we have The Last Minute, a book utterly unlike its predecessors. This is powerful stuff. What on earth will Eleanor Updale come up with next?

A real achievement ... I found this so compelling that I read this book in one sitting.

I defy anyone to put this book down before you’ve got to the end. I really mean that.

The Last Minute shows a realistic cross-section of life in Britain today, and most of us will recognise ourselves in one or two of these people. I won’t call them characters. They were always people. A little reminiscent of Under Milk Wood in the way the story darts between all of them, except faster.

It’s a wonderfully exhilarating book and not like anything else. I salute a truly adventurous writer.

It begins at the end, with the unconfirmed reports of an explosion – or explosions – in an ordinary British town. And so the countdown begins. Chapter by chapter, we edge closer tot he tragedy. The updates become shorter and more urgent until we're seconds away from disaster. This is powerful stuff.

Eleanor Update is known for originality, and this compelling new work is surely unique

The Last Minute is not like anything you will have read before, for its concept is quite unique. Eleanor Updale demonstrates a tour de force in writing with this tale... It is hard to imagine how difficult it must be to write such a book, as the elaborateness of the plot is quite exceptional.

A brilliant book for many reasons: the first being that it was really well written, the writing wasn't boring or slow and each character had a different background story and encountered one another so that there were no unnecessary and irrelevant people.

Her control of the unfolding story is superb (we know from a live news report at the start that there has been an explosion) and this highly original, absorbing book showcases the skillful versatility of the author of Johnny Swanson and the Montmorency series.

An extraordinary book that covers just one minute of many people's lives which will all intertwine and end in a catastrophic disaster...This is another exceptional book that stands out from the crowd with its individuality and brilliance and should not be missed!

Askews & Holt Library Services - Children's Newletter

I thought this book was unique...I would definitely recommend it to anyone who would like to try a different type of book...10/10!

This is, simply put, one of the most incredible books I've ever read.

Greatly executed...you can have your kids entertained for hours with this book

9.21am: business as usual on a high street in England. 
 
9.22am: the explosions are heard for miles around, and in the early confusion there is talk of a gas leak, a plane crash, and even terrorism . . . 
 
 
The people of Heathwick had been preparing for Christmas unaware that many would die, and the rest would be transformed for ever. Travel with them, second-by-second, through the hopes, fears, love, worries, gossip, cruelty, kindness and trivia that dominated their final minute before tragedy struck. 
 
And in the everyday story of an ordinary street, look for clues to what happened, and why.

Eleanor Updale

Praise for The Last Minute

This is an outstanding novel for mature readers of any age and adds lustre to Updale’s established brilliance.

This is a very clever and compelling piece of writing.

This is high concept stuff... It’s a simply brilliant idea and it’s perfectly executed: humorously, movingly, excitingly and without any surplus detail or description.

This is an outstanding novel for mature readers of any age and adds lustre to Updale’s established brilliance.

This is a very clever and compelling piece of writing.

This is high concept stuff... It’s a simply brilliant idea and it’s perfectly executed: humorously, movingly, excitingly and without any surplus detail or description.

This is an outstanding novel for mature readers of any age and adds lustre to Updale’s established brilliance.

This is a very clever and compelling piece of writing.

This is high concept stuff... It’s a simply brilliant idea and it’s perfectly executed: humorously, movingly, excitingly and without any surplus detail or description.

Books by Eleanor Updale

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