Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    TruthSinger
    TruthSinger
    TruthSinger
    Ebook113 pages1 hour

    TruthSinger

    By Barbara Haworth-Attard

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Nathan loves music and is able to hear songs, songs that reveal the truth of whatever or whoever he meets. But he fears that his music and ultimately, Nathan himself, have played a very big role in his parents’ separation. To add to his worries, Nathan has moved with his mother, to his Uncle Nevill’s house, an eccentric, mysterious old man. He also has to deal with a school bully, and an unwanted, but insistent friend, Katie, who performs “magic.”
    Nathan and Katie are inadvertently caught in the summoning of Uncle Nevill by Myrrd, Wyndcaller of Angliocch, and find themselves in the middle of a power struggle between a boy king and a sorceress in a kingdom on a parallel world. In Angliocch, Nathan learns to embrace his gifts for music and hearing and uses them to play an instrumental role in helping the boy king ascend the throne.

    “Eventful and readable, The Truthsinger is a good fantasy...”
    – Quill and Quire
    “Descriptive passages come with an enviable agility of tone and there is a general economy in the writing that would be admirable in any novelist of any genre.”
    – Resource Links, June 1997
    “From the threads of music and magic inherent in language, Haworth-Attard skilfully weaves the cloth of a superbly literate fantasy.”
    – Canadian Book Review Annual 1997

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarbara Haworth-Attard
    Release dateMar 6, 2012
    ISBN9781465990266
    TruthSinger
    Author

    Barbara Haworth-Attard

    BARBARA HAWORTH -ATTARD is an acclaimed children’s author, enjoyed by critics and readers alike. Theories of Relativity was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, among other prizes, and Irish Chain was a Red Maple Honour Book, a Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award Honour Book and a finalist for the Geoffrey Bilson Award. Her other popular titles include Forget-Me-Not, Flying Geese, Home Child, Dark of the Moon, Truth Singer and Love-Lies-Bleeding. Barbara Haworth- Attard lives with her family in London, Ontario. Visit her website at www.barbarahaworthattard.com.

    Read more from Barbara Haworth Attard

    Related to TruthSinger

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Quantum Radio

      Feb 22, 2023

      Quantum Radio
      5 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      By the RIVER’S EDGE

      Mar 22, 2023

      By the RIVER’S EDGE
      9 min read

    • Article

      This One So Loved

      May 9, 2019

      This One So Loved
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Glove

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Glove
      8 min read

    • Article

      Getting Up

      Oct 15, 2022

      Getting Up
      20 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      AUNT MAUD’S SECRET Part 1

      Sep 1, 2021

      “WHAT! SERIOUSLY?” “Settle down, Martin,” said Ms. Phelps as she poured herself a second mug of coffee that morning. She sat down at the kitchen table, gently blowing on the steam. “Aunt Maud is so excited about her visit and really looking forward

      6 min read

    • Article

      Make A Stand

      Jan 17, 2024

      Make A Stand
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Dec 6, 2022

      Two Poems
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Poetry No. 116

      Mar 19, 2024

      The Art of Poetry No. 116
      32 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Push

      Aug 4, 2022

      Push
      5 min read

    • Article

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time

      Dec 1, 2023

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time
      9 min read

    • Article

      We All Have Our Stories

      Mar 1, 2021

      We All Have Our Stories
      14 min read

    • Article

      From Our Archives: A 1981 Interview With Toni Morrison

      Aug 7, 2019

      The award-winning author Toni Morrison died Aug. 5, 2019. We're reposting this 1981 interview conducted shortly after her fourth novel, "Tar Baby," was published.

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Summer We Lost Her

      Apr 4, 2019

      The Summer We Lost Her
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Parting Shot

      May 8, 2020

      The Parting Shot
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Mr Darcy MYSTERY

      Nov 23, 2022

      The Mr Darcy MYSTERY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Remains

      Sep 1, 2017

      THIS IS what you think your mother’s remains will look like. The ash will be black, like all that soot in the fireplace. It will be heavy, like wet sand. There will not be too much of it. It will fit in a small urn with intricate designs on the borde

      6 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Puzzle Of Nostalgia

      Aug 26, 2022

      A Puzzle Of Nostalgia
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble Gene

      Jul 1, 2020

      One clear thing about trouble—it can set you back to zero, a personal cone of silence. And reading, writing, listening allow entry into that troubled solitude; you disappear into it regardless t of the time or place you really are in, be it bed, kitc

      12 min read

    • Article

      Iceland

      Apr 24, 2019

      Iceland
      16 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Nov 1, 2022

      Five Poems
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Silent Witness

      Jun 14, 2023

      The Silent Witness
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for TruthSinger

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      TruthSinger - Barbara Haworth-Attard

      TruthSinger

      By

      Barbara Haworth-Attard

      All rights reserved.

      Copyright © 1996 by Barbara Haworth-Attard

      Legal deposit 3'd quarter 1996 National Library of Canada

      Quebec National Library

      Canadian Cataloguing In Publication Data

      Haworth-Attard, Barbara, 1953-

      TruthSinger

      ISBN 1-896184-16·2

      Published by Barbara Haworth-Attard Smashwords edition

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

      This book may not be resold or given to other people. If you would like to share this book with an additional person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

      Please respect the hard work of this author.

      DEDICATION

      For my sons, Jason Martin Attard and

      Jesse Scott Attard with much love from Mom

      Chapter 1

      NATHAN RESTED HIS CHIN IN HIS CUPPED HAND AND stared out the classroom window. A lone, white flake of snow struggled from a January sky so gray it drained color from everything it touched. What this place needs, Nathan thought, is a good dump of snow to cover the whole, ugly town. Might pretty it up a bit. On second thought, just bury it - deep. Nothing could make this place look better. It was too dam ugly. Dam ugly! Nathan smiled to himself. He could almost hear his mother saying, No swearing, Nathan. Like she always did.

      "I didn't say it with an N on the end, Mom, Nathan would tell her - like he always did. It's not a swear word that way."

      Besides, he only said D-A-M when he was M-A-D. Like now, sitting bored out of his brain in the seventh grade classroom in this ugly town.

      U-G-L-Y; Nathan doodled the word on the lined page in front of him, stared at it a moment, then wrote it backwards. Y-L-G-U. He read it in his head. Nah! It sounded as bad as it looked. Try again. S-N-O-W he wrote, then printed the letters - backwards - W-O-N-S. His lips moved silently. WONS. That was better. It was almost a word.

      He grinned, remembering last night. His mother had asked him to bring the bottle of Tums from the medicine cabinet. Here, Mom, Nathan had said, handing the bottle to her. "Have some S-M-U-T." That was one of his better backwords as he called them.

      Nathan! Nathan! Miss Burtons's voice cut through his daydreaming. She sounded annoyed and the class, led of course by Todd, began snickering. Except for Katie, who sat in the desk opposite Nathan.

      Unmoving and staring straight ahead, she resembled a stone statue; face frozen for all eternity in one expression. If she ever smiled would her statue-face crack? He didn't know, because Katie never smiled.

      She was an odd-ball. She wore dresses that were too large and sagged off her skinny shoulders, the material bunching out over her chest, and gathered by string at her waist. Hadn't she ever heard of blue jeans?

      Nathan stared intently at Miss Burtons, pretending he'd been listening all along. Miss Burtons raised her eyebrows and shook her head. She wasn't buying it, but she wasn't going to make a case out of it either.

      She wasn't really a bad sort, Miss Burtons, or rather Miss SNOTRUB. SNOTRUB had occupied the top place on his backwords list for the past two weeks. Though S-M-U- T might bump it to the number two spot. Nathan hadn't decided yet.

      As I was saying, Miss Burtons continued. Sorcerers and magicians have been around since the beginning of time.

      Nathan's hand stretched out for the yellow pencil again. He couldn't help it. Gray matter was dying here. T-I-M-E he printed, then E-M-I-T. That was a good backword. You could even make a sentence of out it. EMIT TIME.

      Bits and pieces of Miss Burtons' lesson filtered through Nathan's fog. Can you tell me some names of magicians and wizards? he heard her ask the class.

      Gandalf, came one reply. Then others spilled out. Harry Houdini! David Copperfield! Harry Potter. Merlin!

      M-E-R-L-I-N. Nathan's pencil moved across the page. N-I-L-R-E-M. Good name for a heavy metal band. As he stared at them, the letters began to swell; harsh, black marks against the white paper, filling Nathan's eyes and blotting out the desk and classroom until only the printing remained: N-I-L-R-E-M.

      Nathan could feel his heart pounding. Alarmed, he looked up from the paper. Air whooshed from his lungs. He could hear Miss Burtons's voice, but the face with the lips moving was that of a man; skeletal, with sharply angled cheekbones, weathered brown skin, white hair, and black eyes, looking right at...Nathan!

      Nathan tore his glasses from his nose and squinted at them. Nothing wrong there, just the usual thumbprint-and-dirt glaze. He put them back on. Now, beneath the man's face, he could see the softer outline of Miss Burtons's cheeks and chin. It was so spooky! He looked wildly about at the other students who were busily waving arms and calling out answers. Stone-faced Katie sat staring straight ahead. Couldn't anyone else see?

      Nathan Miss Burtons's voice whipped his head back around. She leaned over his desk.

      Nathan stared at her hands using them as an anchor to hold his mind.

      This is the second time I've had to ask for your attention, Miss Burtons said. Look at me when I'm speaking to you, please.

      Nathan didn't want to look, didn't want to see

      that ghost face right beside his. He fearfully raised his head, then slumped back in his chair feeling weak and dizzy. Miss Burtons had her own face back again, though red and angry looking.

      Nathan, I want a written report from you on one of the magicians we've been discussing and I will expect it Monday morning, Miss Burtons told him.

      The bell rang and the class sprang to life, rushing for the door. Nathan slowly closed his notebook and stuffed it into his backpack.

      That's too bad you have extra work, and on the weekend too. Katie stood by his desk.

      Nathan shrugged. Why was she talking to him? She didn't speak to anyone. Besides he didn't need some odd-ball feeling sorry for him. He dropped his pencil case into the backpack. Maybe if he ignored her, she'd go away.

      Suddenly, Katie's hand darted out and in behind Nathan's ear. He jerked his head forward, but the hand sailed in front of his nose, holding a pencil.

      Look what I found in your ear, Katie said. She dropped the pencil on the desk and walked out of the room.

      Nathan stared after her. He knew that pencil hadn't been behind his ear, so where did she get it? He picked up his backpack and headed out the classroom door.

      Nathan! Miss Burtons called after him.

      Oh no! Nathan hunched his shoulders around his head and walked rapidly down the hall. He'd pretend he hadn't heard. He had to get away before she called him again.

      He pushed open the heavy school door and let it bang shut behind him. Clusters of kids stood in the yard laughing and making plans for the weekend - plans that never included him. Nathan jogged out the school gates.

      Hey, Creep! Todd and his two friends blocked the sidewalk. Where you going so fast? Home to mommy and your weird uncle?

      Nathan's stomach sank to the bottom of his feet. He had done nothing to this kid. Hadn't even known Todd existed until two weeks ago. Nathan tried hard to be average, bland, part of the background. So why was Todd out to get him?

      He pushed past the other boy and turned onto the dirt path that ran along the river. He wanted to swivel his head around to see if Todd followed, but willed his eyes forward. Show any fear and Todd would be all over him. It was hard not to look back when any minute you expected your face to be mashed into the ground. All he really wanted to do was run. Run back to the city, back to his real home, back to the way it was before, when there was Mom and him - and Dad.

      He knew Mom had had nowhere to go after she and Dad split up, but surely she could have done better than Uncle Nevill. The guy was so old he was dead, but had forgotten to lie down.

      Nathan stomped across the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1