Linda Buckley-Archer
I am a London-based novelist, scriptwriter and journalist.
I write in different genres and for different ages.
The Many Lives of John Stone
Stella Park has found summer work cataloging historical archives in a remote and beautiful house in Suffolk, England. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, and her uncertainty only increases upon arriving.
The notebooks she's organizing span centuries - they begin in the court of Louis XIV in Versailles - but are written in the same hand. Something strange is going on for sure, and Spark's questions are piling up. Who exactly is John Stone? What connection does he have to these notebooks? And more importantly, why did he hire her in the first place?
“I loved this book. The world it conjures up is so vividly imagined, and John Stone, the mysterious man at its heart, so fascinating and compelling. It's a licence to imagine, and an invitation to consider deeply what we mean by “lifetime.” Original, thought-provoking and moving, it's a classic in the mould of Lost Horizon.”
The Gideon Trilogy
An accident with an anti-gravity machine catapults twelve-year-olds Peter and Kate into 1763 and what seems like a whole new world. Aside from these twenty-first century children, there are two major characters whose fortunes the novels follow. The first is Gideon, a reformed cutpurse, who does everything he can to help the children return to their own time. The second is the Tar Man, who steals the anti-gravity machine and whose influence in London's dark underworld makes him the most dangerous of enemies.
The trilogy spans the centuries and explores the grave consequences of time travel, including time quakes, in which parallel universes threaten to burst into one another. Featuring both the French and the American Revolutions, the trilogy also shows what havoc can ensue when eighteen-century villains take a liking for our own century.
“Hard to imagine it being done better. A real find, leaving you hungry for more.”
Linda Buckley-Archer
I'm a London-based writer. I've written for newspapers, radio and television, but since 2005 I've focused on writing fiction for young adults and teens. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to do what I dreamed of doing from an early age.
I started to write my first novel, Gideon the Cutpurse, to encourage my son to read. I didn't think anyone else would see it, so had fun with it, reading it to my children every Sunday after supper. If my son looked bored (and he often did!), I knew I'd have to rewrite that chapter. If I got a gasp, or a “Oh, Mum, I can't believe you did that!” I'd be really pleased. Finishing that story (the writing and, in particular, the re-writing) got me hooked on becoming a novelist - and there's been no end to the learning curve.