The Brugan

by Stephen Moore

Sarah Lemming feels lost. She’s twelve years old and her life is a horrible mess! Her father is dead. She detests her mother’s new boyfriend. And now they’re all moving into an ancient ruined cottage, that’s slap bang in the middle of nowhere!


And then there’s the Brugan! When he comes crashing into Sarah’s world she just knows that nothing will ever be the same again. He’s ugly. He’s smelly. He’s a vile shade of green. The grown-ups don’t even believe he exists! And it’s not that he means to be bad; it’s just that the Brugan is lost too! And his mischief is more dangerous, more powerful, more deadly than anyone could have imagined.


Can the Brugan ever find his way home? Can Sarah...?

ebook

First published November 18, 1999

About the author

I'm a British author who's written several successful fantasy novels for older children, young-adults and adult readers. The very first book I wrote, a fantasy adventure called SPILLING THE MAGIC, was published in 1996 by Hodder Children’s Books. Its sequel, FIDDLESTICKS AND FIRESTONES, quickly followed. My most notable success came in 1998 with the publication of the highly acclaimed TOOTH AND CLAW and its sequel SKIN AND BONE, both gritty, 'talking animal' fantasies. THE BRUGAN followed in 1999. DEAD EDWARD, a fantasy ghost story, in 2001, and FAY, an urban fairy tale, in 2006. Finally, 2015 saw the appearance of my first fantasy novel for adults when Harper Voyager published GRAYNELORE, my ‘grown-up fairy tale’. Along the way I’ve had books translated into Hebrew, Italian and Russian. I live in the North of England, a landscape which has been a strong influence on many of my fictional worlds. However, I have no plans to write more. That said, I'm definitely not dead; life's big adventure goes on…

Reviews

[Ann Rooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another hit by Stephen, love the Brugan right from the beginning.

[Heather Cawte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very strange and beautiful story. Sarah Lemming, on the threshold of adolescence, loses her father. Her mother remarries, and quickly becomes pregnant, and Sarah is whisked away from the people and places she knows to a tumbledown cottage in the middle of the English countryside. Her mother and stepfather, Fat Finlay, spend all their time renovating the cottage and staring into each other's eyes. Sarah is left to her own devices. And then she meets Tolly Blagg, the hag....

Stephen Moore deftly weaves the pains and insecurities of adolescence into a poignant fantasy tale of hags, standing stones - and the Brugan, an entirely new addition to classic English myth. His writing is, as always, vivid and even poetic, and his characters leave the page and head straight into your imagination. Perfect for young adults, and older ones.