Is there such a thing as a good thief? Katherine Rundell think so!
The Good Thieves – the Blurb
Fresh off the boat from England, Vita Marlowe has a job to do. Her beloved grandfather Jack has been cheated out of his home and possessions by a notorious conman with Mafia connections. Seeing Jack’s spirit is broken, Vita is desperate to make him happy again, so she devises a plan to outwit his enemies and recover his home.
She finds a young pickpocket, working the streets of the city. And, nearby, two boys with highly unusual skills and secrets of their own are about to be pulled into her lawless, death-defying plan.
Story telling at its finest
The Good Thieves is my second taste of Rundell this year. I loved the proper adventure story that was The Explorer. The Good Thieves, with lost treasure, a castle moved stone by stone across the sea and an elephant living in New York (of course), promised much the same. Rundell writing is children’s story telling at it’s finest and her turn of phrase is divine – Vita with her six different types of smile (5 of them real), who thinks coffee tastes like angry mud and whose hair was the reddish-brown of a freshly washed fox. Ooh I was in for a reading treat.
What’s the date?
As with The Explorer, Rundell writes with a sense of timeless. The Great War is mentioned, there are no mobile phones and Vita has just discovered ketchup but it doesn’t feel like an old book. The story could be described as a good old fashioned treasure hunt, yet it feels modern and daring. Acrobatics, pick-pockets and knife throwers are mesmerising no matter what decade they come from. At first appearance the book looks like quite a long read (320 pages) but readers shouldn’t be put off by this. The text is spaced out, there are beautiful illustrations and the chapters are more than manageable. Vita is a perfect lead character, vulnerable yet determined she never lets her disability stop her. On top of all of this the story is suspenseful, full of love and friendship with a suitably evil villain. Top marks on all fronts!
If you haven’t read any of Katherine Rundell’s books do give them a go. There is a reason she is my daughter’s favorite author. She is rapidly becoming one of mine.
