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  • Published: 13 June 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143307211
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $21.00

Children of the King




Three children have been sent to live in the countryside, safe from the war in London. When they find two boys hiding in a castle, the past and future come together to make an extraordinary adventure.

Three children have been sent to live in the countryside, safe from the war in London. When they find two boys hiding in a castle, the past and future come together to make an extraordinary adventure.

Winner of the 2013 CBCA Book of the Year - Younger Readers

  • Published: 13 June 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143307211
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $21.00

About the author

Sonya Hartnett

Sonya Hartnett's work has won numerous Australian and international literary prizes and has been published around the world. Uniquely, she is acclaimed for her stories for adults, young adults and children. Her accolades include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Of A Boy), The Age Book of the Year (Of A Boy), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (Thursday's Child), the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for both Older and Younger Readers (Forest, The Silver Donkey, The Ghost's Child, The Midnight Zoo and The Children of the King), the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Surrender), shortlistings for the Miles Franklin Award (for both Of a Boy and Butterfly) and the CILP Carnegie Medal (The Midnight Zoo). Hartnett is also the first Australian recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2008).

Golden Boys, Sonya’s third novel for adults, was shortlisted for the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award. She also published her fourth picture book, Blue Flower, illustrated by Gabriel Evans, in 2021 and it was shortlisted for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award.

Also by Sonya Hartnett

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Awards & recognition

Melbourne Prize for Literature

Shortlisted  •  2012  •  Best Writing Award

APA Book Design Awards

Winner  •  2013  •  Best Designed Children's Fiction

CBCA Book of the Year Awards

Winner  •  2013  •  Younger Readers

Australian Book Industry Awards

Shortlisted  •  2013  •  Book of the Year for Older Children

Davitt Awards

Shortlisted  •  2013  •  Best Young Adult Crime Book

Prime Minister's Literary Award

Shortlisted  •  2013  •  Young Adult Fiction