Russell Brand, Jamie Oliver, the Duchess of York… How we all groan when another celebrity writes a children’s book. But we can lay our prejudices aside, for once, in the case of the television presenter and comedian Alexander Armstrong: his debut novel, Evenfall, is a triumph.
The hero of the story is 12-year-old Sam, a seemingly ordinary boy who, following the death of his mother, lives with his father in a terraced house in Durham. Sam is lonely, and concerned about his father’s deteriorating mental health: “Since his mum had died, there were days when [his father] couldn’t even get out of bed; he’d just curl up in a ball and leave the curtains drawn.” Sam wants to know more about his mother too, but his father will barely speak about her. (“It made him too sad.”)
Yet when Sam discovers that his family used to be at the centre of the Order of the Evening, a secret society responsible for protecting the world from evil forces, he finds himself whipped into a series of dramatic adventures which will finally unlock his past. The society has recently lain dormant; now, as enemies start trying to locate its magic, hidden within a secret palace, Sam knows that he must reach the palace first to save the world from doom.
In recent years, there has been frequent criticism that children’s fiction has started to focus on domestic misery at the expense of traditional adventure stories. This isn’t a charge you could level against Armstrong, who lives in the country with four young sons, and has filled Evenfall with the sort of bracing, outdoor adventures reminiscent of Boys’ Own.
In one scene, for instance, Sam and his friends Ish and Goz trek across the “green hills and crags” of Snowdonia carrying rucksacks laden with Jaffa Cakes; in another, they hurl themselves off a bridge onto a freight train. In another chapter, true to the spirit of John Buchan, they leap into a swirling river to escape the searchlights of a helicopter pursuing them from above: “There was a new harmonic in the air. And then the noise started to thud more loudly – coming closer, fast… [They] jumped and landed waist-deep in the river. They were so pumped up the water felt almost warm.”
But for all its stunts, this is also a very modern fantasy, in which the inventive plot is balanced by a strong degree of psychological realism, and a hero to whom every young reader is likely to relate: “I started to think I had strange and special powers. There was only one power that I craved, though, and that was the power to make Dad better.”
Armstrong’s book is aimed at readers of 9-12, but as with all the best children’s fantasy, it’s likely to appeal to those well into their teens.
Evenfall is published by Farshore at £14.99. To order your copy, call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books
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