Part of Series
New York Times bestselling author Brian Jacques gives us another tales of Redwall, filled with “The Knights of the Round Table with paws” (The Sunday Times) along with their friends and enemies. All her life, Triss the squirrelmaid has suffered the tyranny of the evil ferret king King Agarnu and his daughter, Princess Kurda. But with the help of her fellow slaves, Shogg the otter and Welfo the hedgehog, Triss plans and executes a daring escape by sea. Meanwhile, in Mossflower forest, a new mystery has arisen: a pair of wandering Dibbuns has accidentally discovered what may be the long-lost secret entrance to Brockhall-original home of the warrior badgers. The threads of the story eventually come together when Triss happens upon Redwall in her flight and takes up the famous sword of Martin. The rest is Redwall history.
Author
Brian Jacques (pronounced 'jakes') was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County Cork to be exact. Brian grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks, where he attended St. John's School, an inner city school featuring a playground on its roof. At the age of ten, his very first day at St. John's foreshadowed his future career as an author; given an assignment to write a story about animals, he wrote a short story about a bird who cleaned a crocodile's teeth. Brian's teacher could not, and would not believe that a ten year old could write so well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a liar". He had always loved to write, but it was only then that he realized he had a talent for it. He wrote Redwall for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool, where as a truck driver, he delivered milk. Because of the nature of his first audience, he made his style of writing as descriptive as possible, painting pictures with words so that the schoolchildren could see them in their imaginations. He remained a patron of the school until his death. Brian lived in Liverpool, where his two grown sons, Marc, a carpenter and bricklayer, and David, a professor of Art and a muralist, still reside. David Jacques' work can be seen in Children's hospitals, soccer stadiums, and trade union offices as far away as Germany, Mexico, and Chile (not to mention Brian's photo featured in most of his books). Brian also ran a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Merseyside, until October 2006, where he shared his comedy and wit, and played his favourites from the world of opera - he was a veritable expert on The Three Tenors. When he was wasn't writing, Brian enjoyed walking his dog 'Teddy', a white West Highland Terrier, and completing crossword puzzles. When he found time he read the works of Mario Puzo, Damon Runyon, Richard Condon, Larry McMurty, and P.G. Wodehouse. He was also known to cook an impressive version of his favourite dish, spaghetti and meatballs. Sadly, Brian passed away on the 5th February 2011.
