Finnikin Of The Rock

Melina Marchetta

Aug 2009 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

'A wonderful story full of hauntingly vivid characters and landscapes. The romantic touches are likely to cause swooning... This is addictive, highly recommended reading for teens and adults.'Sydney Morning Herald Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive. Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father. But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself. A brilliant, compelling and powerful novel from the best-selling, multi-award winning author of Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road.

About the author

Melina Marchetta is one of Australia's most successful young-adult novelists and is a best-selling and critically acclaimed author in more than twenty countries and in eighteen languages. In 2009 Marchetta won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association for On the Jellicoe Road, and Melina's screenplay for this book is set to be made into a major film in 2013 with an international cast to be directed by Looking for Alibrandi director Kate Woods. Melina is also developing a television series with writer/director Cathy Randall (Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger) and is a writer for ABC-TV's Dance Academy. Finnikin of the Rock was first published in Australia in 2008 followed in 2010 by the companion novel to her award-winning book Saving Francesca, The Piper's Son, long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award and short-listed for many other literary awards in Australia and internationally. Melina is also the author of The Gorgon in the Gully for younger readers. Book Two in the Lumatere Chronicles, Froi of the Exiles, was published in 2011. This year marks the twenty-year anniversary of Melina Marchetta's first novel Looking for Alibrandi, the much-loved Australian classic, which was made into a major motion picture and has sold more than half a million copies in Australia. In her latest books in the Lumatere Chronicles Marchetta continues to explore the politics and emotion of exile from homeland that has characterised all of her novels.