Gunpowder, treason and plot!
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot …
Time Tunneller Ally Sherrick takes us through the story-spark that got her going with her very first book, ‘Black Powder’.
Cowdray House, now a crumbling ruin, was once the home of Catholic Lord Montague who happened to be a very good friend of King James I. But did you know that notorious Gunpowder Plotter Guy Fawkes actually lived and worked at Cowdray House before he became embroiled in the plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament? For Ally, this brought up the most important question any author can ask: What if …?
What if a young boy called Tom had visited his rich relatives in Cowdray House to beg for their help? What if he discovered a secret tunnel under the house, and a mysterious stranger lurking there …?
A whole lot of ‘what if’s led Ally to the story for her book – can you think of some ‘what if’s connected to a place you’ve seen or you know, and see where it takes you?
Very soon you might just have a story of your very own!
Free teaching resource
About the author
Ally is the award-winning author of stories full of history, mystery and adventure.
Black Powder, her debut novel about a boy caught up in the Gunpowder Plot, won the 2017 Historical Association’s Young Quills Award. This was followed by The Buried Crown, a wartime tale with a whiff of Anglo-Saxon myth and magic (2018), a Tudor-set adventure, The Queen’s Fool (2021) and her Roman London-set mystery thriller, Vita and the Gladiator (2023) – runner-up in the Young Quills Awards 2024. She has also done a retelling for young readers of her favourite book of all time – Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
Her new book, Rebel Heart, a rip-roaring adventure story set during the English Civil Wars.
In her spare time, Ally loves exploring ruined castles and decaying mansions and imagining what it must have been like to live in them without electricity and hot and cold running water – although she’s quite glad she doesn’t have to herself! She is married and lives with her husband and assorted garden wildlife in deepest, darkest Surrey.
Website: www.allysherrick.com
Instagram: @ally_sherrick
Facebook: @ally.sherrick1
About the book
England, 1605.
12-year-old Tom must save his father from hanging. He falls in with a mysterious stranger – the Falcon – who promises to help in exchange for his service. But on the long journey to London, Tom discovers the Falcon’s true mission – and a plot to blow up Parliament with barrels of black powder.
Tom faces a terrible decision: secure his father’s release, or stop the assassination of the king …
A rip-roaring, beautifully written life-and-death quest, packed with history and adventure.
Time Tunnellers 