South Lanarkshire book award winner announced

Apr 2 2008

THE winner of South Lanarkshire Council’s Book Award for 2008 has been announced.

Tim Bowler, of Devon, scooped the prize for his novel Frozen Fire in what is the 10th year of the awards.

The supernatural and psychological thriller, aimed at teenagers, tells the story of how a girl, Dusty, gets a strange phone call from a boy.

He claims that he is dying and says he knows something about the disappearance of her brother Josh.

When she meets the mysterious character, he seems to be made of snow and fire, he can see people’s thoughts, and feels everything — from chilling ice to white-hot pain... and he seems to have a hold over everyone he meets.

Dusty knows she must save him from the fury of people in their town to find out what happened to her brother — but she is soon in grave danger when the lynch mob turn on her.

Tim, a previous winner of the award in 2002 for his book Stormcatchers, said: “I feel almost overwhelmed winning this award.

“It means so much to get an award that’s voted for by young readers.

“What I love about young readers is their honesty.”

S3 pupils from eight South Lanarkshire secondary schools voted for their favourite book from a shortlist of five, which was decided by a panel of school librarians, area librarians and the Literacy Development Co-ordinator.

On the morning of the awards, the five shortlisted authors visited the participating schools to speak about the inspiration for their books and writing in general.