My new novel Stormteller - out in November!

I'm very pleased to announce that Cambria Books has offered to publish my new YA novel Stormteller. It will come out in November 2014 to coincide with the release of my non-fiction book from Routledge on the same theme, The One Planet Life. The cover is being produced now by the amazing illustrator Elaine Franks. Here's the blurb:

“Mererid’s cry:

it compels me away from my room tonight.

Distant death is common after the sins of arrogance.”

- Seithenhin

from the Black Book of Carmarthen, folio 74.r. Currently housed at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, the Black Book of Carmarthen (Peniarth MS 1) is a manuscript dating to the middle of the 13th century recording poems from much earlier.

If our lives are governed by forces outside our control, where can we find hope?

When a storm surge destroys Tomos’ luxury home and his parents die, and Bryn’s eco-home is torched and his parents killed by starving marauders, these two rivals for the same girl, Eira are forced to rely upon each other for survival in the wild uplands of Wales (the same locations as appear in the TV series Hinterland).
One of them will die, but not before they discover the astonishing bond that joins them together. And none of these three teenagers are aware that they are living out an ancient rivalry between fabulous beings – such as Ceridwen, the Welsh Goddess of Inspiration - who are seeking to rewrite the endings of their own stories.

This bewitching drama set in the very near future entwines Celtic myth and climate-changed destinies to answer the fundamental question: can we escape our apparent fate?

"A fabulous piece of story telling" - Richard Collins, author of The Land As Viewed From The Sea (shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award) and three other novels.

"David Thorpe has written a compelling story in which elements of ancient Welsh legends of drowned lands and villages combine with a prescient account of a near future in which global warming is causing catastrophic flooding. Set against this background three teenagers are caught up both in the throes of ancient magic and a modern tragedy." - Frances Thomas, author of many children's and adults novels.

"David Thorpe's Stormteller is an intriguing and enthralling novel about the relationship between two teenage boys, leading totally different lives yet strangely alike.  The novel is set in a coastal Wales ravaged by climate change and rising sea levels.  Underpinned by fascinating parallels with local folk tale, the story of two boys who both love the same girl at a time when fear stalks the land is sure to appeal to a wide audience." - multi-prize-winning author Malachy Doyle.

ISBN 978-0-9928690-8-3.

Read more about:

• the locations
• the legends
• climate change