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Jump to navigationJump to searchTalina in the Tower by Michelle Lovric (view source)
Revision as of 13:43, 8 September 2020
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|date=February 2012
|website=http://www.michellelovric.com
|summary=Terrifying creatures roam the streets, snatching people, cats and rats. When Talina (the most impudent girl in Venice) loses her parents, she is forced to live with her horrible guardian in his gloomy tower. But Talina is attracted to magic, and magic is attracted to her, with startling results. Michelle Lovric came to Bookbag to [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Michelle Lovric|chat to us]].
|cover=1444005375
|aznuk=1444005375
}}
Nineteenth -century Venice can seem a sinister place, full of secrets, misty forgotten islands and magic, both good and 'baddened'. It does, however, have its brighter, warmer side, with cosy, comforting grannies and delicious recipes, and Talina loves it dearly. But then the mangy, rabid Ravageurs arrive, creatures part-way between wolves and hyenas, and claim the city as their ancestral home. Men, women and children are stolen away in the night, as are cats and rats, but the inhabitants refuse to believe the full horror of what is happening, preferring instead to blame a neighbouring town.
And then the night comes when Talina's parents disappear. Like many a storybook heroine before her Talina is forced to live with a cruel, neglectful old guardian, in a gloomy old tower where she is left pretty much to her own devices. Fortunately she is a lively, opinionated girl who refuses to accept such unpleasant treatment, and she never gives up her determined search for her beloved father and mother. She is courageous – almost to the point of foolhardiness at times – but also kindly, and while she is the scourge of her poor French teacher, Mademoiselle Chouette, her cat Drusilla and her classmate Ambrogio Gasperin, are her loyal and devoted friends.
