Léon Garfield Books In Order

Novels

Jack Holborn (1964)
Devil-in-the-fog (1966)
Smith (1967)
Black Jack (1968)
The God Beneath the Sea (1970)
The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1971)
Child o’ War (1972)
The Ghost Downstairs (1972)
Drummer Boy (1973)
The Golden Shadow (1973)
The Pleasure Garden (1976)
The Adventures of the Boy and the Monkey (1976)
John Diamond (1980)
The House of Cards (1982)
The Apprentices (1984)
The December Rose (1986)
Empty Sleeve (1988)
The Stolen Watch (1995)

Collections

Mr Corbett’s Ghost (1969)
The Fourth Story Book Collection (1995)
Shakespeare Stories (1997)
Shakespeare Stories II (2001)

Novels Book Covers

Collections Book Covers

Léon Garfield Books Overview

Jack Holborn

If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children’s Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They’re books to treasure and return to again and again. When orphan Jack stows away on the Charming Molly, he never guesses that he’ll be sailing off on the adventure of a lifetime with a crew of pirates. There are ghosts, treasure, mutiny, and secrets galore and looming over everything is the captain, who Jack knows is the only one who can help him discover the truth about his past.

Devil-in-the-fog

A dramatic and eerie story of lost identity and family secrets, told in Leon Garfield’s memorable and distinctive style. George Treet is happy with his life as part of a family of travelling actors. But George’s world turns upside down when he discovers that Mr Treet is not his real father, and that he must go and live with his real family. Where someone, somewhere out in the fog, is waiting for him…
BLLeon Garfield was one of the most celebrated children’s authors of the twentieth century, and won the Guardian Award, The Whitbread Award, and the Carnegie medal BLThis is a fast moving, exciting read and is accompanied by atmospheric black and white line drawings by acclaimed artist Jason Co*ckcroft

Smith

This brilliant, picaresque novel follows the adventures of an illiterate young ragamuffin known only as Smith. Smith picks the pocket of a stranger, only to witness immediately the strangers murder. Smiths booty from the theft is an Important Document, no doubt worth quite a lot to somebody, which is proved by the pursuit of Smith by two very shady characters. Smith artfully dodges them and winds up in the odd company of a wealthy blind man, who takes Smith into his home and provides him with an education. But this new comfort is lost when Smith himself is suspected of the very murder he witnessed. Smith was a Boston Globe Horn Book Honor Book, winner of the Phoenix Award, and a Carnegie Honor Book.

Black Jack

‘Leon Garfield is unmatched for sheer, exciting storytelling.’ Lloyd AlexanderA swarthy villain, nearly seven foot tall and presumed hanged, seems to wake from the dead in the presence of young Bartholomew Dorking. Having outwitted the noose, Black Jack enlists the unwilling boy to be his companion. Together they weave their way through the seamiest parts of old London, a traveling circus, and a private madhouse where forgotten lunatics are chained in empty rooms, and from which Bartholomew rescues Belle, a girl who may not be mad at all. Culminating in a ground shaking climax, this strange and rich novel, whose 1979 film adaptation was shown at the Cannes International Film Festival, will enrapture readers young and old.

The God Beneath the Sea

A retelling of a Greek myth, which is forged into one continuous story, beginning with the fall of Hephaestus and ending with his second rejection at the hands of his father, Zeus. When first published in 1970, the book won the Carnegie Medal and was runner up for the Greenaway Medal.

The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris

An experiment to see if a wolf will adopt an abandoned baby turns into a desperate situation for two schoolboys in early nineteenth century England when the child is recovered by well meaning passersby.

John Diamond

If ever I learned anything during that night, it was that, if you should hear the noise of running feet, you should not be angry, but think that somebody down below might be gasping and groaning and struggling to save his life. If you should see a boy raise his fists as if to bang on your door and then stumble away, it is not because he’s a dirty little ruffian, but because he’s just caught sight of somebody coming round a corner with a terrible hook. ‘Really,’ said Leon Garfield, ‘what I try to write is that old fashioned thing the family novel, accessible to the twelve year old and readable by his elders.’ This classic tale of a boy who sets out to right the wrongs committed by his swindler father demonstrates how extraordinarily successful Leon Garfield was as a story teller. His work transcends all generations. First published in 1980, John Diamond won the Whitbread Award that year, as the best children’s story book, and also the prestigious Boston Globe Horn Honor Book Award. The Horn Book wrote: Narrated with the verve and pace of a picaresque novel, John Diamond combines a cast of remarkable eccentrics with superb sensory descriptions…
A series of heart stopping pursuits through the twisting London streets, narrow escapes, encounters with the denizens of Whitefriars, Foxes Court, and Hanging Court Alley move the story at a precipitous rate toward a thoroughly satisfying and surprising resolution. The plot is as convoluted as William’s search packed with unexpected turns, vain hopes of treasure, false clues, and masked identities…
Richly imagined and audacious in its balance of humour and suspense, the book is as absorbing as it is compelling.

The Apprentices

Life for 18th century London apprentices was often hard, but their hopes and dreams are the stuff of these stories. From chilly October, through Christmas, Valentine’s Day, May Day and midsummer, a story for each month is included in this book.

The December Rose

Secrets whispered up a chimney, a golden locket with a broken chain, murder in the streets of London, and suddenly young Barnacle is plunged into a terrifying mystery. With the sinister InspectorCreaker on his tail, Barnacle has no choice but to run, and hide, and run again.

Empty Sleeve

Though he dreams of going to sea, fourteen year old Peter is not entirely displeased to be apprenticed to a locksmith, especially as it means getting away from his ‘saintly’ twin; but when the ghost of a former apprentice and a murder put him in grave danger, it is only his despised brother who is able to save him.

Shakespeare Stories

By skillfully weaving his own prose with Shakespeare’s language, Leon Garfield has refashioned nine of the Elizabethan playwright’s dramas into stories, capturing all the richness of the characters, plot, mood, and setting. This format will delight both those who know the great dramatist’s works and those who are new to them. Plays included are: Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Cymbeline, King Richard the Third, The Comedy of Errors, and The Winter’s Tale.