Available Formats
Fire and Hemlock
By (Author) Diana Wynne Jones
HarperCollins Publishers
Harper Fire
25th November 2025
31st July 2025
United Kingdom
Primary and Secondary Educational
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Horror and ghost stories, chillers, or other scary
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Friendship stories
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Dark fantasy
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Supernatural and mythological creatures
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Thrillers / suspense
823.914
Paperback
400
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 25mm
260g
In the mind of a lonely, imaginative girl, who can tell where fiction ends and reality begins An epic fantasy, spanning nine years
The fire and hemlock photograph above Pollys bed sparks memories in her that dont seem to exist any more. Halloween; nine years ago; she gatecrashed a funeral party at the big house and met Thomas Lynn for the first time.
Despite the fact that hes an adult, they struck up an immediate friendship, and began making up stories together stories in which Tom is a great hero, and Polly is his assistant. The trouble is, these scary adventures have a nasty habit of coming true
But what has happened in the years between
Why has Tom been erased from Pollys mind, and from the rest of the world as well Gradually Polly uncovers the awful truth and, at Halloween nine years on, realises that Toms soul is forfeit to demonic powers unless she can save him.
Her hallmarks include laugh-aloud humour, plenty of magic and imaginative array of alternate worlds. Yet, at the same time, a great seriousness is present in all of her novels, a sense of urgency that links Joness most outrageous plots to her readers hopes and fears
Publishers Weekly
Diana Wynne Jones (19342011) spent her childhood in Essex and began writing fantasy novels for children in the 1970s. With her unique combination of magic, humour and imagination, she enthralled generations of children and adults with her work. She won the Guardian Award in 1977 with Charmed Life, was runner-up for the Children's Book Award in 1981 and was twice runner-up for the Carnegie Medal.