Bren is trying to live on the edge of his life after a family tragedy but a savage school bully refuses to let him. He creates a safe place in an imagined world but in the end he needs to find his own place in the real world. The language used is so powerful that it transported me back to the hostile world that school could sometimes be. It is a dark story redeemed by friendship and courage.

Bren is having a hard time. He is being bullied at school and has to come to terms with the death of a family member. He escapes to Furthermoor as often as possible. Furthermoor is a magical forest, a place of safety, peace and tranquillity. Here, Bren is in charge: he controls the forest and all the beautiful clockwork creatures that dwell in it. But something is wrong in Furthermoor. Why is Bren losing control of his creations? And where did villainous Featherly come from? Can your own imagination actually be a dangerous thing?

This beautifully written middle grade novel is not afraid to tackle big topics, and does so in a very sensitive way. It is also a novel about coping with your fears, and standing up for yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Usborne Publishing for the digital review copy.

In the aftermath of the death of Bren’s sister Evie, Bren finds himself unable to cope with daily life. His parents are emotionally destroyed, and emotionally absent from his life. He is avoiding schoolwork, and friendship and the support of his peers. The bully Shaun finds him easy pickings. Bren spends more and more time in Furthermore, a safe haven of his own making.
Things take a dramatic and dangerous turn when Bren is trapped in a derelict house.
Bren has to face his own inadequacies, confront the truth of his torment and break free of his emotional and physical constraints.
A deep and moving story of physical powerlessness and emotional trauma, and the importance of facing painful truths in order to regain control of your own life.

Furthermoor follows twelve-year-old Bren, who, having recently suffered the tragic loss of his sister Evie, is living as a shadow – going through the motions of daily life at home and at school, but never really present, never really in the moment. Worse still, Bren is plagued by the school bully, Shaun, who not only preys on Bren’s insecurity and cowardice, but has recently set his sights on the new kid too. Shaun and his gang make Bren’s life a living hell - a fate he’s resigned himself to, and even learned to live with. Bren’s only solace is Furthermoor: a world he’s imagined, a world he can escape to where he is safe, and Evie lives on. When Bren climbs through the canopy of crystal leaves into his mechanical forest, with its shimmering lake and beautiful meadow, he is in control. With the turn of a few cogs on his watch, he can create stunning works of nature and magnificent creatures. But as Bren’s real life takes a turn for the worse, strange things start to happen in Furthermoor too, with the emergence of Featherly, a dark and malevolent creature who seems hell-bent on destroying Furthermoor and Bren himself. Can Bren overcome his deepest fears and darkest thoughts in order to save himself?
After reading Darren’s previous titles, and particularly enjoying The Memory Thieves, I couldn’t wait for Furthermoor, and absolutely devoured it. Darren’s writing is beautiful, the descriptions of Furthermoor and world-building are exquisite, but this book is so much more than a portal-type adventure novel. The most prominent theme is that of grief and loss. Darren’s signature exploration of the big issues is, as usual, thought-provoking and brutally honest. I really felt Bren’s pain and suffering, not just in the moments of violence or bullying, but also in those vulnerable moments where he was alone, or in the awkwardness of his parents trying to navigate family life having lost a child. Grief can be a challenging topic for a middle grade audience, but Darren really conveys the nuances, the emptiness, and the numbness. Added to the ruthless campaign of bullying that Bren experiences, Darren really taps into the very real anguish that many teenagers face every day.
When Bren’s torment begins to permeate Furthermoor, Featherly reminds Bren that everything that happens there is Bren’s own perception. The strength of Bren’s own dark thoughts and feelings is enough to destroy everything good he has created, and that is an incredibly powerful metaphor for those experiencing grief and suffering. I can’t remember another middle grade to young adult title with such a striking take on the pain of loss and the effect it can have on the mental health and self-worth of those left behind. Bren’s story is haunting and poignant and will remain with me, as I hope it will remain with young readers, serving as a reminder that finding your voice in your darkest moments is tough, but when bravery and courage prevail, the darkness can be overcome.

Learning Links:
• Clear links to PSHE work on grief/loss and bullying.
• Perfect to link to work on Anti Bullying weeks – both the scenes involving the bullying and confronting the bully.
• Descriptive writing work based on Furthermoor – worldbuilding etc.

Trigger Warnings: Grief, Loss of a sibling, Loss of a child, Mental health, Bullying, Violence.

Furthermoor is a powerfully written 'dark' tale of loss, a feeling of not belonging but also of finding ones self and the power of love and friendship. Furthermoor begins with Bren - the main character - knowing that if he didn't get out of the place he was in, he'd die. A powerful and emotive opening that completely draws the reader in to another fabulously written tale by Darren Simpson. I can completely understand why this story has been likened to Coraline. What follows is intensely emotive. Bren, the main character, has created a world away from reality - Furthermoor - a world he and his sister had imagined - a world in which his sister exists; a world that is devoid of Shaun the bully's ominous presence and the harsh reality of life without his sister. This story packs a punch. I am sure that Darren Simpson has weaved part of his own soul into this story and into the character of Bren. As you read you are completely drawn to feel Bren's struggles and will him to truly believe his sister's words:
"Bravery isn't always big and loud. It can be quiet too."
A triumphant 5 star read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Usborne for this e-copy.

A beautifully written story that talks about grief, bullies and a magical adventure on how it is overcome.

The story follows Bren, a 12 year old who has lost his older sister a few months before and how he is trying to navigate life without her. Things are not great for Bren as he is also bullied by Shaun, but he finds peace when he picks up his sister’s watch and travels to Futhermoor to talk to her.
When the new boy Cary watches Bren get bullied by Shaun he tries to intervene but only makes it worse! And it gets really bad for Bren…..a matter of life and death!! Bren must overcome his darkest feelings and make it out of Furthermoor to save himself.

The story was well paced and told in such a way you really felt for Bren and his family.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

TW: bullying, racism, death, car accident

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of Furthermoor.

I was really intrigued by both the premise and the cover but sadly the execution of this book let it down for me. I won't say much about the plot itself but for me there was a real lack of backstory and worldbuilding to this book. You are thrust into the centre of the plot and for me personally, I need some build up to what is going on and some chance to get to know the characters but I didn't feel I got enough of that. This is why it just didn't work for me but it doesn't mean it won't work for you!

Like his previous offerings, Darren Simpson’s latest work doesn’t shy away from difficult topics. Furthermoor is an emotional read, packed with big issues, from grief to bullying. It’s not a nod to these issues, it’s a full on, assault-on-the-senses dive into them.

Twelve year old Bren has a lot going on. His sister has recently passed away, his parents are lost in their grief and he’s being targeted by a ruthless and terrifying bully. His only escape is to his imaginary world of Furthermoor, where everything can be controlled and runs, quite literally, like clockwork. But what happens when Bren’s imagination takes a darker turn? Will he confront his fears or will he be trapped in horrors of his own making?

Furthermoor is an incredibly powerful book, which could facilitate many important discussions in the classroom. I feel like it would be a good book to read towards the end of Year 6, or into KS3 as the themes are quite hard hitting. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Very occasionally, I find I am teaching a child whose taste in books is very similar to my own and it is a huge delight to me to share reads with them that I am confident that they will love just as much as I do. Currently, I have a boy who is rapidly working his way through a great many of my titles and I was thrilled when he asked for a list of recommendations to pass on to his family to point them in the right direction for Christmas gifts.

While I was rather tempted to create an extraordinarily long list, I though better of it and managed to narrow it down to half a dozen stories, amongst which was Darren Simpson’s The Memory Thieves, published earlier this year. With its tense and sinister plot, it has proved to be one of my stand out reads of 2021 and so when this – his latest title – became available to request on Net Galley, I immediately asked to read it after what felt like an eternity of checking routinely for its presence. While very different from that story, here again is another title which has some very tense, and actually quite scary, parts which will surely prove to be one of the top reads of 2022 for many people.

Our story focuses on Bren, a 12-year-old boy who watches as class bully Shaun turns his attention to new boy Cary, who has just arrived at Williamsborough Academy. Biding his time until the class has been dismissed, Shaun takes offence at the new boy’s ease in making his peers laugh and decides to show him just who rules the roost. As Cary stands up for himself and turns the full force of his cutting wit on the bully, Bren watches on from the side-lines until Cary turns to go, leaving Bren to feel the full force of Shaun’s temper.

Afterwards, Bren makes his way to the deserted arts block and hides himself away in order to make his way secretly to Furthermoor – an idyllic place only accessible to himself – to visit his dead sister Evie. After letting off steam, and brining Evie up to speed with what is happening in school, Bren returns to the real world in order to complete the rest of his school day.

As Shaun continues to make his life a misery, and with no friends to turn to, Bren visits Evie over and over again until things start to change within his secret world, and he and Evie discover that their sanctuary has been stumbled across by Featherly – a malevolent creature who wants Furthermoor for himself and who has been damaging the clockwork animals which reside there. Can the siblings reverse the damage that Featherly has been causing and rid Furthermoor of his presence, or is Bren destined to remain trapped in a ruin of his former haven forever more?

There are so many threads woven through this story that it is difficult to know where to start but perhaps most obvious is the grief that Bren and his family feel following the accidental death of Evie. Without friends to turn to, no evidence of any pastoral care in school and parents whose own grief is so all-consuming that they are unable to provide their son with the support he needs, Bren’s only solace is in spending time with the sister he has lost to dampen the pain of her absence. Beautifully written, the sections where the two are together really pulled at my heartstrings as their relationship is such a close one – unlike a great many siblings of their age who very often bicker and fight despite their mutual love.

Also covered in some detail is the bullying of Bren by Shaun. As someone who was bullied mercilessly at school, for a variety of reasons, I recognised so many of the actions of both perpetrator and victim and a great many other readers will too, making this an excellent read-aloud in upper KS2 and into KS3. Although we regularly talk about bullying in PSHE, by using a class text to start discussions, children are often more prepared to open up about their experiences. Here, some powerful conversations could be had about constructive strategies to adopt in the place of Bren’s passive responses, which he adopts in the hopes of having a quieter life which – of course – doesn’t come.

This is a book that I possibly wouldn’t read to my very immature Year 5 class at the moment, although by the summer they may well be ready for it, but last year’s class would have enjoyed it a great deal, as would the class I taught before them. Tense, thrilling and with some great plot twists that I won’t spoil here, this would be a great addition to my little library shelf. Enormous thanks got to Usborne Publishing and Net Galley for my advance read ahead of publication on March 3rd 2022.