#BlogTour ‘The Crystal Palace Chronicles-The Star Of Nimrod’ by Graham Whitlock

About the book…

Join teenager Joe on a rollercoaster adventure travelling back in time to the heyday of Victorian Crystal Palace.

Joe’s world is turned upside down when he discovers a shattered compass among the brambles where the Crystal Palace once stood and travels through time back to 1888.

With help from the teenage H. G. Wells and Samuel Coleridge Taylor, daredevil Iris Blondin, Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the Queen of the Gypsies, Joe must foil dangerous diamond thieves to uncover dark secrets about the ‘People’s Palace’. Standing on boundaries between worlds, its mysterious secrets are tied to the fate of his family.

Will Joe be trapped in the past with his new friends, find a way to return to his family or can he somehow have both?

My thanks to Eleanor Gibson from Literally PR, for the blog tour invite, and publishers Grass Root Productions for my gifted paperback copy of ‘The Crystal Palace Chronicles’ by Graham Whitlock, which is out now!

A long, boring summer stuck either with his younger sister, or helping out in his dad’s restaurant, is stretching out in front of Joe like a trainer stuck in fresh tar.

The local bullies have put a target on his back after the incident with Obama The Llama , his skateboard is in need of fixing, and he is broke.

His best friend is miles away, and his nan, and eccentric history buff with an umbrella full of Elvises (or is it, Elvii?) won’t stop banging on about how they are linked to the construction of the Crystal Palace, the ruins of which are near to his home. It is almost as if Joe is destined to find a compass which allows him to time travel back to when the Crystal Palace was in it’s hey day, solve a mystery, and meet some very memorable real, and fictional characters along the way.

Thrilling, relatable, and easy to read, this has bags of energy and a very visual style which will appeal to children who love mysteries and history-there is a fantastic section in the back all about the real Crystal Palace, which looks at the important figures who were around at this time when it still stood.

Beginning at the end, with the destruction of what was considered a modern marvel, the book then goes forward in time to now, and plays fast and loose with the concept of time travel, identity, and learning to like the person you are turning into. Graham taps into that vulnerable side that children have when they are on the cusp of growing up, and they feel like everything lies in front of them, but they are too young to do much and yet too old to behave like children anymore.

The very naturally flowing style of dialogue, means that there is a lot to hold the interest of the curious reader, I think my 11 old year old would very much enjoy finding out more about what the Star of Nimrod is all about!

About the author….

Graham Whitlock is a writer and local instigator who is hopelessly in love with London. He edited the Dev and Olli children’s books by Shweta Aggarwal and his critically acclaimed writing for the stage includes adapting the Shane Meadows film 24/7 and the Ealing Studios comedy Passport to Pimlico, the UKs first immersive musical.

Links-https://www.grahamwhitlock.com/

Twitter @literallypr @grahamwhitlock