Series:

The Dance Sequence

3 total works

Cover of Postcards from No Man's Land
What happens to Jacob Todd when he visits his grandfather's grave at the annual commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem is paralleled in time by the events of the dramatic day in World War Two when retreating troops were sheltered by the family of Geertrui Van Riet. Geertrui, now an old lady, reveals secrets to Jacob in contemporary Amsterdam which completely overturn his view of himself and his country, and lead him to question his very place in the world.

Cover of This is All

This is All

by Aidan Chambers

Published 1 September 2005
“The masterpiece of one of young-adult literature’s greatest living writers.”—Booklist, starred review

Using a pillow book as her form, nineteen-year-old Cordelia Kenn sets out to write her life for her unborn daughter. What emerges is a portrait of an extraordinary girl who writes frankly of love, sex, poetry, nature, and, most of all, of herself in the world. As she attempts to capture “all” of herself on paper, Cordelia maddens, fascinates, and ultimately seduces the reader in this tour de force from a writer who has helped redefine literature for young adults. A book not to be missed by any serious reader.

Cover of Breaktime & Dance on My Grave

In Breaktime, Ditto challenges Morgan to prove that literature is crap and triggers off a chain of events to alter his outlook of life forever. Ditto faces a series of charges from Morgan against literature: that all fiction is Done. Finished. Dead; a sham and a pretence. He undertakes faithfully to record a life in the week of Ditto - with all the chaos of reality thrown in - and his literary creation reveals more about himself than he originally bargained for.

In Dance on My Grave, life in his seaside town is uneventful for Hal Robinson, nothing unusual, exciting or odd ever happens to him - until now that is. Until the summer of his 16th birthday when he reaches a crossroads of choices in life. He foolishly takes a friend's boat for a day's sailing, gets into difficulty and is rescued by Barry Gorman. Their ensuing relationship results in a tumultous summer for Hal as he experiences the intense emotions of his first teenage love.

A major new movie - 'Summer of 85' - based on Dance on My Grave, by groundbreaking French director Francois Ozon, was released in October 2020 to much acclaim.

'Deftly captures the thrill of first love' - NME

'A sweet gay romance that gradually morphs into something more suspenseful and macabre' - Daily Telegraph

'A film that will take you back to your first summer love' - The Gay UK