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Lu Hersey
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Broken Ground Kindle Edition

by Lu Hersey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 out of 5 stars 21 ratings
Things aren’t going well in Arlo’s life, but they get a whole lot worse when a strange, heavily tattooed girl keeps appearing everywhere he goes.

Turns out she’s even more sinister than he thought. Local rumour has it she’s been seen in the village before, many times, over many lifetimes.

She only comes when something terrible is happening to the land – like the current plans for gas exploration on a local farm. Trouble is, villagers say, she won’t leave until a forfeit is paid in blood. And right now, the blood she seems to have in mind is Arlo’s.

Arlo is sure it's all just stupid superstition. But is it? When he starts losing everything and everyone he cares about, is he prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his friends and family?

Broken Ground draws on the ancient folklore surrounding the harvest, giving it a contemporary and timely context.
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  1. Print length
    296 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Accessibility
    Learn more
  4. Publication date
    June 21, 2022
  5. Reading age
    13 - 18 years
  6. File size
    4.8 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B1QWNSK9
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beaten Track Publishing
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 21, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.8 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1786455376
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 - 18 years
  • Best Sellers Rank: #5,402,706 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

About the author

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Lu Hersey

Lu Hersey

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Lu Hersey worked as an advertising copywriter until she escaped to become a librarian and study for an MA in writing for young people at Bath Spa University. She shares her house with a surfeit of young adults who won't leave home and keep calling her "Mum" - although, surprisingly, she finds their dialogue, strangely disturbing habits and erratic sleeping patterns a constant source of inspiration. She currently lives in Glastonbury, UK

Deep Water won the 2012 MsLexia Children's Novel Writing Award, picking up some amazing accolades in the process and has since been short-listed for the 22nd annual Wirral Paperback of the Year Award.

Deep Water is Lu's first novel and was published by Usborne in Summer 2015 and a new edition is available, out now with Tangent Books.

Broken Ground, her second novel, is published with Beaten Track, and will be available from 21 June 2022.

Praise for DEEP WATER:

“Outstanding… I raced through it”

Malorie Blackman

‘Hersey’s debut shimmers with Celtic fairy tales, marine marvels, creepy Cornish fishing villages and a fabulous granny.’

- New Statesman

‘Excellent.’

- The Independent

‘Inspired by Cornish sea-lore ... vibrant and filled with eccentric characters.’

- Irish Examiner

‘A stunning debut novel that is guaranteed to bewitch, bother and bewilder... Deep Water blends a gentle but compelling modern day romance with an enigmatic storyline that uses the legends of Britain’s pre-history as its thrilling backdrop.’

- Lancashire Evening Post

‘Wonderfully atmospheric and magic oozes from the pages. Perfect summer holiday reading.’

- Lovereading4kids

‘Outstanding and lyrical writing’

- Julia Green

‘A fast-paced and compelling novel for 10-15 year olds packed with mystery and magic.’

- Western Morning News

‘Such an accomplished, tightly-shaped book, with a depth of information’

- Julia Eccleshare

'Filled with local folklore and a genuine sense of magic, this is right up there with Susan Cooper's Greenwitch and Alan Garner's early novels'

- Amanda Craig

‘It has a lovely, mythical quality while still contemporary and right for the audience’

-Elen Caldecott

‘Taking myth, folklore, witchcraft and ancient beliefs as inspiration, it weaves a contemporary tale about a group of teenagers caught up in a legacy of family secrets... the writing is assured and original.’

- Never Imitate

Praise for BROKEN GROUND

'I gobbled up Broken Ground in two great gulps. I absolutely loved it. It combines current political questions, vivid teenage characters and otherworldly resonance in a superbly gripping plot. Moving lightly from crop circles to community tensions, from fracking to first love, this is another exciting and highly relevant novel from the author of Deep Water. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE'

- Liz Flanagan (author of EDEN SUMMER and DRAGON DAUGHTER)

'I just loved Broken Ground ... reminded me of favourites by Susan Cooper and Alan Garner ... It has such a great atmosphere - lush at times, and then threatening. Beautiful details of the natural world and the crop circles and, when we actually go to Otherworld, it really does feel strangely vivid and pre-industrial. I bought into this world completely, and loved the characters - and I loved how it takes the genre of folk horror and brings it beautifully up to date with a political and satirical edge.'

- Paul Magrs, author of the LOST ON MARS trilogy

'Broken Ground did that magical thing of drawing me into its world - now I’m sorry that I got to the end. It’s a great story - likeable and interesting characters, lots of magic and mystery woven into and around a modern horror, with a strong evocation of place and a compelling narrative driving the story forward.'

Sara Crowe, author of BONE JACK

http://www.the-bia.com/lu-hersey.html

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
21 global ratings

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Top reviews from other countries

  • Poor Boy Sixtyish
    5.0 out of 5 stars This multi-layered, humane and wise story knocked me over
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    I had a small break after the initial few chapters of Broken Ground, but once I was able to go back to it I positively devoured it. Yes, it helps that it contains and explores so many of the things that I am interested in as both a storyteller and pagan, but Lu Hersey's skill lies in the way that she weaves and balances all of this as intricately and cleverly as a piece of celtic knotwork. Arlo is an engagingly honest protagonist and his relationships with Jaz, Clay, Hayden and his Ma feel very real indeed - particularly his feelings of failure in with every one of them. That this all exists beneath a beleievable and timely narrative with a strong message about the dangers of disturbing the land and the consequences for those on both sides but without the sense of being lectured is incredibly impresssive. Broken Ground is about wounding - equally the land and the village which unknowingly has some sort of stewardship to the land. Averbury and Silbury Hill are it's inspiration, but Lu Hersey's reinvention of that area is very much a place and feeling of her own. People oftren throw around the idea that it's impossible to put down a book, but that's generally just plot and engaging characters. Broken Heart has all the 'heart' as well and that's the best compliment I can give it.
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  • Bob Stone
    5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting and memorable read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    When I was a teenager, one of the books I read that stayed with me for a long time was The Owl Service by Alan Garner. The combination of very modern (at the time) characters with ancient myth was very powerful and started a life long interest in the myths and magic of Britain. In this superb novel, Lu Hersey brings back the feelings I had when I read The Owl Service. We have beautifully and authentically realised contemporary young people who live in a village that feels timeless and the very modern threat posed by fracking, but underneath is something much much older which is fighting back against the abuse of the land and demanding an ancient and deadly forfeit. The author adeptly combines myth and modern, making both believable. The descriptions of the British countryside are very evocative, the characters are intriguing and the plot moves along smoothly, gathering pace as it goes. It is very difficult to put down and, like the Owl Service before it, will stay with me for quite some time
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  • JenB
    5.0 out of 5 stars A unique, beautifully written, thriller
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    With a hugely sympathetic protagonist in fatherless Arlo, Broken Ground will instantly draw you into its world of crop circles and community tensions in a thrilling plot of mystery and magic. Truly menacing villain, Phelps, means the stakes are life and death, right to the end. A unique and unmissable story.
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  • Beaker Al
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute magic!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    I devoured this beautiful book in two sittings. There is such a glorious evocation of landscape that almost any events would have been a delight to read about: that the plot is also fast-paced and gripping, the characters complex and instantly engaging, and the relationships so well drawn and empathetic, speaks to the author's mastery of the craft. We have, in Farmer Phelps, one of the most despicable villains I've met in a long time, and in Andraste a link to storytelling traditions that reach back millenia. I absolutely loved this book - highly recommended for the environmentally conscious teen in your life, and for anyone who loves a damn good yarn.
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  • Rachel L
    5.0 out of 5 stars Mythical, magical and foreboding. A great story and a cry from nature!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 13, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Loved this!. Weaving ancient folklore with a contemporary setting, this is a story about the unthinking damage we do to nature and how it will come back to haunt us... with an added smidge of romance, this a super accessible teen read with depth.
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