Voice in the Flames : A powerful and original contemporary novel with a fantasy edge set in the north-east, for readers of 9, 10, 11, 12

Author: Mike Edwards

General fiction (Children's / Teenage)

Published on 4 June 2026 by Walker Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 272 pages
196 x 128 | 190g

Praise for Riverskin: 'Shaped by Teesside dialect and filled with punchy, poetic coinages, this atmospheric debut brings local legend into the everyday.' Guardian'Bold, daring and memorable.' Phil Earle'The atmosphere lingers long after the last page.' The Times Children's Book of the Week'The Little Mermaid meets Skellig but with discarded shopping trolleys and techno.' The Times“I am the works. I’ve been there an age. I wus there when they burnt strong. I made it so.”Jack wishes life could be how it used to be when his dad was around, working at the old steelworks. Now Dad is gone and the works are closed, towering silent and forbidding over the rundown estate. Then Jack stumbles upon Sal: a spindly old man with candles in his hair ... who asks Jack to set him alight. Sal claims to be a spirit of the old works, who needs Jack’s help to bring it back to its former glory. Jack is drawn to the man’s promises and the hope it holds for his whole family. But at what price?