Having grown up in a miserable home for abandoned children, a young boy jumps at the chance to exchange places with the mysterious, flying "loblolly boy," but once he takes on this new identity, he discovers what a harsh price he must pay.
James Norcliffe Books
James Norcliffe is an accomplished poet and author of Young Adult fiction. His work is characterized by its profound exploration of complex relationships and the inner lives of characters, delivered with keen insight and lyrical prose. Norcliffe's distinctive voice offers readers a deeply evocative experience, often delving into themes of identity and the search for meaning.
The Enchanted Flute
- 368 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Believable fantasy novel by an award-winning author for 8 to 12-year-olds - grounded in the here and now and charged with a dangerous, menacing edge. A flute that will only play one mysterious song? A strange old man in a wheel chair somehow rejuvenated by this music? A leap from a window into a strange and often frightening world where nobody can be trusted and from which there seems to be no escape? NZ Post Children's Book Award-winning author James Norcliffe's The Enchanted Flute sweeps Becky Pym and Johnny Cadman from the realities of modern day school and the suburbs into an ancient Arcadian world where an old battle is about to be reignited. The flute Becky's mother bought at a pawn shop proves to be a catalyst, a prize all forces seek. Lost, pursued, Becky and Johnny are swept along by events out of their control until the final confrontation between ancient enemies.
In this wry and witty collection - addressed to the first interstellar object ever to be detected in our solar system - James Norcliffe applies a cool, clear eye to human life on Earth. Our foibles and absurdities are laid bare, but so too is the human capacity for love, desire, sorrow and regret.Norcliffe' s succinct observations traverse the personal and the political. Grounded in the local but encompassing the global, they range through subjects such as commuting, insomnia and faltering health to the contemplation of current events and issues such as gun violence and climate change. The landscapes and settings of these poems are vividly evoked, often in terms of human impact. Birds, ' knowing what we are' , take flight at the approach of a person; a coal range is the acknowledged centre of a West Coast family' s survival.Often very funny, and always deeply felt, Norcliffe' s Letter to 'Oumuamua describes a world where every day is both everyday - gritty, material, bread-and-butter - and also luminous and precious: a ' day like no other' .
