Description

Inspired by a true story from World War II. Joseph must make a terrible choice when he is left alone to guard a silverback gorilla’s cage in a deserted zoo.

It’s 1940, and Joseph has been packed off to stay with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no great fondness for children. To Joseph’s amazement, she owns the rundown city zoo where Joseph meets Adonis, a huge silverback gorilla. Adonis is ferociously strong and dangerous, but Joseph finds he has an affinity with the lonely beast. But when the bombs begin to fall, it is up to Joseph to guard Adonis’s cage should it be damaged by a blast. Will Joseph be ready to pull the trigger if it comes to it?

• Ideal for lovers of classic wartime stories such as Goodnight Mister Tom, Carrie’s War and War Horse
• Phil Earle’s children’s and YA fiction has been widely acclaimed. He is the winner of the We Read Book Award and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal
• ‘Complex, dark, intense and mysterious, When the Sky Falls is an astounding work of fiction’ Antony McGowan