The Spooks Apprentice by Joseph Delaney is the first book in the Wardstone Chronicles. The film rights have sold to Warner Brothers and the film is currently in pre-production. It has been confirmed that Kevin Lima, director of 2007’s Disney family blockbuster Enchanted, will direct The Spook’s Apprentice - the first film in the Wardstone Chronicles series. It has also been confirmed that the screenplay will be written by Matt Greenberg - a man who is no stranger to scary films, having written screenplays for the Stephen King film 1408 (starring John Cusack and Samuel L Jackson) and Halloween H20 (starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Josh Hartnett).
Each book in stock is a first edition first printing and is signed, lined, dated, doodled and numbered.
Book Description
Warning: Not to be read after Dark
Synopsis
A wonderful and terrifying series by a new writer about a young boy training to be an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins ...
From the Inside Flap
It’s going to be a long, hard, cruel winter, son,’ Mam said. ‘All the signs are there . . . And there couldn’t be a worse place to spend it than up on Anglezarke. Your dad was worried about you, son, and I am too. So I won’t mince my words. There’s no doubt that the dark’s growing in power and there’s a particularly baleful influence up on that moor. It’s where some of the Old Gods were worshipped long ago and in winter some of them start to stir from their sleep . . . So stay close to your master. He’s the only real friend you’ve got. You must help one other.’
From the Back Cover
Warning: Not to Be Read After Dark
About the Author
Joseph Delaney is a retired English teacher living in Lancashire. He has three children and seven grandchildren and is a wonderful public speaker available for conference, library and bookshop events. His home is in the middle of Boggart territory and his village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.
Most of the places in the Spook's books are based on real places in Lancashire. And the inspiration behind the stories often comes from local ghost stories and legends.
The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse and The Spook's Secret have all been shortlisted for the Lancashire children's Book for the Year Award. The Spook's Apprentice is the winner of both the Sefton Book Award and the Hampshire Book Award.
