Twenty-Four Hours

Author: Mahy, Margaret

General fiction (Children’s / Teenage)

Published on 1 January 2000 by HarperCollins Publishers (HarperCollins Children’s Books) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback / softback | 192 pages
200 x 129 x 11 | 154g

Compelling drama in which 17-year-old Ellis comes to terms with the meaning of death

Ellis is an ordinary 17-year-old; someone whos planning to finish school and go to university like any other teenager. The difference is that four months ago, his best friend Simon killed himself. Still that was four months ago. Ellis has now got over it.

Except, of course, he hasnt. Returning to his home town, he gets drawn into a situation in which the old Ellis would never have become embrangled. He gatecrashes a party and persuaded to rescue two sisters Ursa and Leo, driving them back to the Land of Smiles the ex-motel where they live.

From that moment on, nothing is the same again. The story is narrated hour-by-hour, as Ellis packs a life-time of experiences into the next twenty-four hours. Giving in to high spirits and booze, Ellis wakes next morning in a strange bed, with a stonking hangover and a shaven head! He learns that a child has been kidnapped, and is persuaded to help in her rescue

This is a bizarre, surreal and powerful novel in which the reader is taken on the same roller-coaster ride as Ellis.