When I received this book to review, I have to admit I was curious, it is unusual (although not unheard of) for established, world renowned authors to switch genre and target audience. The location for the story is the Nine Worlds and the story itself draws heavily on Norse mythology. Runemarks was her first children’s novel and also her first venture into Epic Fantasy. Since then she has written an eclectic genre mix of bestsellers including two sequels to Chocolat, some cookbooks (co-written with Fran Warde) and some psychological thrillers including Gentlemen and Players and Blueeyedboy. However, she shot to fame in 1999 with her gastromance novel, Chocolat, which sold over a million copies and was made into an Oscar nominated film in 2000. Harris’ first two published works in the late 1990’s were gothic fantasy, but achieved only limited success. For suddenly her friend One-Eye, a rascally Outlander, want her to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below - a world filled with goblins and far worse - to retrieve a relic of the old gods.įirst published in 2007, Runemarks is a piece of crossover fantasy, designed to appeal to both adults and children, written by prolific, best-selling English author, Joanne Harris.

Except for Maddy who thinks it’s rather fun. Born with a rusty-coloured rune on her hand - what the villagers call a ruinmark - she is scarred by this symbol of the old gods, a sign of magic.Īnd everyone known that magic is dangerous.

Runemarks by joanne harris