Why a Booktrail?
1940s: Having escaped the island in Wales, London is now the peculiar capital of the world.
1940s: Having escaped the island in Wales, London is now the peculiar capital of the world.
Following on from Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children, Jacob and his new friends have now escaped the island where the peculiar Miss Peregrine’s lived. They only just managed it by the skin of their teeth and are now hoping that London will be the place they can relax in and start the rest of their lives. But it’s going to be a journey as before they even get there they meet a cast of characters and animals along the way. This part of their journey is going to be something very surprising that’s for sure. Plus the vintage photos are peeking out the book just waiting to be discovered.
There are many words to describe a journey with Ransom Riggs as your guide – but the vintage photos do as much as words – they evoke a time and place but a feeling and an eerie tone that won’t let go.
The children’s journey this time is across a war torn, ravaged country as WW2 has Britain in its grip. They’re on a mission, a race against time but you’ll have to read the first book to find out why. They hope that London is where they’ll find the answers and what they are looking for.
Wales is where they are fleeing from. From a fictional island they call Cairnholm. There are a few islands where the novel could have been inspired by. The island of Stokholm for example is small and stunning with lots of bird wildlife. Unlike Cairnholm, it does have electricity and there are telephones and there are no dilapidated houses with strange children living there. Of could it be Cardigan island in the north which is as physically isolated as Cairnholm?
London is not all that it seems either. The mythology of the Peculiars is as thick and constant as the fog. This world is full of characters who would not seem out of place in Ripley’s museum – the photos create a sense and feeling that this magical, captivating world is as stark, black, white, shades of grey as the vintage photos which illustrate the story.
Each photo tells its own story as well as illustrating the story of the book and the world of the peculiars grows and grows. The Peculiar world builds in Hollow city and the world is one large circus, a journey into the unknown and the peculiar world gets even more peculiar…