We are pleased to announce the publication of Flight of the Bluebird, the second book in Teresa Bassett’s Young Adult Time Crystals series. This will be her third novel under the Authors Reach banner.
“This second adventure takes place six months after the first book ends,” says Teresa. “It’s primarily a science fiction/time travel fantasy, but it’s also very much rooted in the real world, with the main characters – a group of four friends – navigating the usual problems of school and home life, as well as the challenges of fighting evil time travellers!”
The blurb is as follows:
The holiday of a lifetime? Or a deadly trap?
Twelve-year-old Clara can finally relax. After the time travel adventure that nearly claimed her
life, she's thrilled to spend time as an ordinary schoolgirl. But when a mysterious benefactor
awards a prize to her school for ten lucky recipients, everyone hopes to win the trip to the world-
famous theme park—except Clara.
Sensing things other kids don't, Clara's instincts scream danger! But despite her warnings, her
friends refuse to listen. And as she digs into a disappearance from a hundred years before, she's
certain something awful is afoot.
Can Clara uncover the truth before she and her schoolmates meet a terrifying fate?
“Flight of the Bluebird is aimed at readers aged 9 - 14,” says Teresa, “although having said that, much older readers have told me they’ve enjoyed the first novel in the series. I think my books would appeal to fans of Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time or His Dark Materials – anyone who loves a good adventure with a battle between good and evil. I like to explore unusual scenarios, often involving the bigger questions of life, but in a relatable, down-to-earth and hopefully exciting way.”
In The Time Crystals, book one of the series, Cornish schoolgirl Clara Callenick discovers that she has a special skill. She is sensitive – she’s able to sense things others don’t. Not in an extreme way, like a superhero or telepath, but more subtly, such as being able to pick up on deceits and dangers others aren’t aware of.
“She’s a fictional character - braver and more feisty than I was!” says Teresa. “However, this intuitive side of her personality springs perhaps from a feeling I used to have as a child, a heightened awareness akin to a sixth sense. I firmly believe that children can sometimes be psychic, and more open to psychic phenomena, but that mostly they grow out of it over time.”
Like The Time Crystals, Flight of the Bluebird has strong local connections for Teresa, with a setting inspired by her real life childhood home.
“I was born on the site of a former tin mine in Cornwall, and grew up playing among old mine
workings left over from both the tin and clay mining industries. This had a big impact on me, and I loved to dream up all kinds of amazing adventures set in those dramatic landscapes. As it turns out, it’s a habit I never grew out of!”
Flight of the Bluebird is available as a paperback or ebook from Amazon, and may be ordered via the usual channels from bookshops.
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