Anne Droyd and Century Lodge

by Will Hadcroft

Gezz and her best friends Malcolm and Luke are having fun on the housing estate where they live when the arrival of a stranger interrupts their everyday lives and changes the world as they know it forever. Created by a professor of robotics, Anne Droyd is left in the care of these three children, who take her to school with them and teach her how to be 'a human'. This Asperger adventure explores the human condition and the need to integrate into a society that demands conformity. The author's pun on 'android' introduces the theme of alienation that runs throughout, a tool used to provide comfort to individuals who feel like 'aliens', excluded in a social environment. Readers will be captivated by the heroic characters and the colourful plot, and engaged by Hadcroft's imaginative presentation of real-life issues such as smoking, bullying and peer acceptance.

279 pages, ebook

First published June 12, 2002

About the author

I have been writing all my life, but have been a published author for ten years.

My Anne Droyd series for children has a loyal following. It tells the story of three young secondary school kids who become guardians of an android (robot) girl.

Anne Droyd and Century Lodge is the adventure where they discover her and smuggle her into school. Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows is about their vacation to the coastal town of Whitby where monsters are on the prowl at night. Anne Droyd and the Ghosts of Winter Hill will be published shortly, so keep an eye out for it!

For teenagers, I have written the surreal social commentary novel The Blueprint. It's a cross between the classic TV series The Prisoner and kid's soap opera Grange Hill.

I have also published my autobiography dealing with the more subtle characteristics of Asperger's syndrome, The Feeling's Unmutual.

All my books are available in paperback and on Kindle.

Reviews

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The spirit of Enid Blyton lives on in the pen of Will Hadcroft! He has the same feeling for what makes an exciting story and populates it with a colourful cast of heroes and villains. But this is no exercise in cosy nostalgia.

His debut novel is set in a very recognisable North West England and his four child heroes face some very modern issues such as smoking, religious tolerance and the misuse of science. However it is does not lecture the reader. Primarily however this is a thrilling SF adventure, pitting three resourceful children and a remarkable android girl against sinister forces who wish to set the world ablaze with war. Along the way it is also a tale of an outsider trying to fit into a new world and learn what it is to human, which gives the story alot of warmth, as well as some amusing misunderstandings.

By turns it is a funny, exciting and occasionally moving story which should appeal to any young fans of either science fiction or the classic adventure novels of Blyton or Arthur Ransom. It is ultimately has faith that children can do the right thing and achieve remarkable victories. Well recommended.

[John Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great first story in this series, a series I'm happy to see is now picking up with a second in publication and a third on the way..

[Bob Furnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book, highly recommended.