Barrington Stoke signs Lucy Strange's 'captivating tale'

The synopsis for The River Spirit reads: "Young chimney sweep Tom has started seeing strange, supernatural things – fairies in the flowers by the river, a soot monster crouching in the darkness of a chimney, and then the mysterious river spirit Elle. Elle joins Tom and the other children apprenticed to cruel master sweep Mister Crow. Together, they shimmy up the town’s narrow, filthy chimneys. But Tom has an ominous feeling in his bones, and when he faces his most dangerous job of all, the reason for Elle’s magical appearance becomes clear." 

Strange commented: "The River Spirit is a story I have wanted to tell for a long time. It’s inspired by the life and death of chimney sweep George Brewster, and draws on some of the fairy-tale magic of Charles Kingsley’s Water Babies too. It has been a challenge to write a sad story in a way that feels beautiful and hopeful for young readers – bringing a dark moment of our history to life in a new and magical way. Júlia Moscardó’s dreamy, other-worldly illustrations are absolutely perfect for this tale, and I can’t wait to share the book with my readers."

Bathgate added: "Lucy Strange is an exceptional storyteller, and in The River Spirit she has managed to weave a captivating tale of the power of friendship and courage in the most difficult of circumstances, while refusing to shy away from depicting the horrendous conditions in which many children in Victorian England were forced to live and work."