Blazing Star

Ever since his mum and dad took off to live in Africa, Geoff has lived with his gran. He misses his parents terribly, and is unhappy at school. Soon he begins to escape into a very real fantasy world - a world where he is an Indian Brave, full of valour and passion, hunting buffalo, riding the American plains and horse rustling with his Indian friend, Blazing Star. The reality is very different - Geoff is a no-hoper at school, teased and isolated. He has no real friends, and his after-school entertainment is ballroom dancing with Gran and her ageing friends, star-gazing at the local observatory, and listening to classical music. But Geoff's need to escape to another world covers something even more fundamental - his refusal to face what really happened to his mother and father. The novel brilliantly moves towards an astonishingly dramatic finale, where Geoff finally admits the truth to Blazing Star and himself.