The Blackthorn Key (#1)

Author(s): Kevin Sands

13+ Years | Staff Pick's

London, 1665. Fourteen-year-old Christopher Rowe is apprenticed to master apothecary Benedict Blackthorn. In Blackthorn's shop, Christopher learns the delicate secrets of transforming simple ingredients into powerful medicines, potions and weapons. His beloved master guides him with a firm, steady hand - instilling him with confidence and independence that prove increasingly vital as Christopher learns of a mysterious cult preying on the most learned men in London. The murders are growing closer and closer to home and soon Christopher is torn from the shop with only a page of cryptic clues from his master and the unambiguous warning: 'Tell no one'.

Helped by his best friend, Tom, Christopher must decipher his master's clues, following a trail of deceit towards an unearthly secret with the power to tear the world apart.


Product Information

Shortlisted for Waterstones Children's Book Prize: Younger Fiction 2016.

Since escaping from university with a pair of degrees in theoretical physics, Kevin Sands has worked as a researcher, a business consultant and a teacher. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

General Fields

  • : 9780141360645
  • : Penguin UK
  • : Puffin
  • : 0.226
  • : January 2016
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • : October 2015
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Kevin Sands
  • : Paperback
  • : en
  • : 813.6