Blood on snow - Tim Bowler

In a fast-moving plot, 14-year-old Will terrifyingly experiences a voice from the past when visiting the Norman remains of Totnes Castle in Devon. He comes to realise that a boy took revenge on the Normans for the murder of his father and was himself killed in 1067 when local Saxons were brutally enslaved to build the Castle. But the boy's spirit cannot rest until the knife he used is returned to the River Dart to complete Saxon tradition. Will breaks into the castle at night to dig up the knife, but then the nightmare begins as he relives his Saxon forebear's horrific ordeal.

A gripping story with sympathetic characters. Part of a unique range of books aimed at 11+s that through integration of text and illustration are also accessible to those with reading abilities of as young as 8. Produced in consultation with literacy consultant Wendy Cooling,