The Year of the Ladybird

It is the summer of 1976, the hottest since records began and a young man leaves behind his student days and learns how to grow up. A first job in a holiday camp beckons. But with political and racial tensions simmering under the cloudless summer skies there is not much fun to be had.

And soon there is a terrible price to be paid for his new found freedom and independence. A price that will come back to haunt him, even in the bright sunlight of summer.

As with SOME KIND OF FAIRY TALE, Graham Joyce has crafted a deceptively simple tale of great power. With beautiful prose, wonderful characters and a perfect evocation of time and place this is a novel that transcends the boundaries between the everyday and the supernatural while celebrating the power of both.

Read by Jonathan Keeble. Jonathan combines his audio work with a busy theatre and TV career. He is very proud to have appeared more times (11) at Manchester's prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre than any one else of his age. He has featured in over 500 radio plays for the BBC appearing in everything from Shakespeare to Sherlock Holmes to Dr Who and is also the evil Owen in The Archers. Much in demand for his voicework, this ranges from playing Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral to The Angel of Death in the film Hellboy 2, with stops at all points in between. An award-winning reader, Jonathan has recorded over 100 audiobooks.

(p) 2013 Orion Publishing Group