People of the Forest
The Story
People of the Forest is the latest novel by Alan McCluskey, his twelfth to date. It is currently being written. In it, Isla, a fifteen-year-old computer wiz-kid, has escaped from a prison for young offenders in a world where everyone is electronically tabbed by the ever-present Trackers. She crosses paths with Jake, a boy of her age from another world, who is on the run from the Baron’s henchmen. She is flung into his feudal world, getting involved in the intrigues of the Baron’s castle, while Jake tries to survive in her world in the company of a group of dissidents living in the wild.
More about People of the Forest
Jake and the challenge of a new language – where Jake makes himself at home in the forest and tries to read a book in a language he barely knows. (Ch 21)
The rain uninvited – a brief extract in which a storm breaks over the castle in which Isla has taken refuge. (Ch 19)
More people of the forest – In this extract, we meet Len and Samir, a couple of Trackers charged with keeping an eye on people’s movements, especially criminals and dissidents. And they’ve spotted Jake and possibly Isla. (Ch 3)
… and what about the girl? – an extract from the draft of chapter 2 where Isla flees from her brief encounter with Jake. (Ch 2) See also the clip of Alan McCluskey reading this extract: Isla and the boy she bit.
The birth of a new novel – including an extract from the draft of the beginning of the novel in which Jake is pursued by the Baron’s men. (Ch 1). See also the clip of Alan McCluskey reading this extract: Jake on the verge of flight.