LIAN TANNER

The Keepers Trilogy #1

Museum of Thieves

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Winner of the 2010 Aurealis Children’s Fiction Award
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One of Amazon.com’s Best Children’s Books for 2010
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Translated into eleven languages

‘You’re in the museum now, and anything can happen!’

Goldie Roth lives in the city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin, and boldness is a crime. But Goldie is both bold and impatient. She runs away to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets a boy named Toadspit and discovers dangerous secrets. A monstrous brizzlehound stalks the museum’s corridors, and only a thief can find the way through its strange, shifting rooms.

Goldie and Toadspit have a talent for thieving. Which is just as well, because the treacherous Fugleman has his own plans for the museum – plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a very bold thief to stop him.

What follows is a thrilling tale of risk, adventure, secrets, double-crossing, mystical creatures, and magic!

‘Readers will be quickly caught up in the highly dramatic chases, the intriguing museum that shifts layout at will, and the nifty otherworld elements. Recommended.’

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

‘A stunningly imaginative idea steams into view in this new fantasy series … The story will appeal to many in the upper primary/lower secondary years, wanting a fast-paced, furious story designed to keep the readers on their toes. Highly recommended.’

Magpies Magazine, New Zealand

The Keepers Trilogy #2

City of Lies

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Winner of the 2011 Aurealis Award Children’s Fiction

Goldie Roth is a trained thief and a skilful liar. She’s supposed to be one of the keepers of the mysterious Museum of Dunt, along with her friend Toadspit. But her parents are ill and she will not leave them.

Then Toadspit’s sister Bonnie is stolen, and Goldie is forced into action. She and Toadspit follow the child-stealers to the neighbouring city of Spoke. Along the way, Toadspit is also captured, and Goldie discovers some dangerous secrets – secrets that the child-stealers will kill to protect. She will need all her skills as a thief and a liar if she is to survive and save her friends.

But survive she must. Because the Fugleman has returned to Jewel, and Goldie will soon be needed more than ever…

Filled with intrigue and adventure, City of Lies is the suspense-filled companion to the stunning Museum of Thieves.

"Lian Tanner’s novel creates a rich magical fantasy world full of mysteries. When the immediate danger is alleviated, suggestions of trouble to come will have listeners eagerly awaiting the final volume of the trilogy. Claudia Black’s skilled narration is outstanding. … Not to be missed."

–School Library Journal starred review of the audio version, Jan 1st, 2012

‘The storytelling remains just as accomplished and the tantalizing mysteries deepen …’

The Horn Book, Sept/Oct 2011

The Keepers Trilogy #3

Path of Beasts

‘I’m Fifth Keeper of the Museum of Dunt, and I’m back where I belong.’

When Goldie, Toadspit and Bonnie steal into Jewel in the middle of the night they find their city under the heel of the Fugleman, and the streets controlled by the Blessed Guardians and an army of ruthless mercenaries. The Museum itself is seething with danger, and only the older Keepers prevent it from spilling out into the city. Goldie, Toadspit and Bonnie must use all their clever tricks and hard-won bravery to undermine the Fugleman’s brutal regime before he rounds up the children of Jewel and sells them into slavery.

In order to save the children and defeat the Fugleman once and for all, Goldie must walk the Beast Road, an ancient pathway deep inside the museum, a pathway so secret and perilous that no one has ever returned from it. And according to the old stories, she can take only two companions, and they must be mortal enemies.

The final heart-stopping adventure in the Keepers series, following Museum of Thieves and City of Lies.

‘Lian Tanner is a masterful storyteller. [Her] language and plot throb with suspense and energy … Path of Beasts will be irresistible to readers of varied levels of sophistication and to both genders. This latter achievement is to be especially celebrated for the fact that it is a girl hero whose negotiations with wildness take the reader through this ferocious and wonderful terrain.’

Tali Lavi, Magpies, November 2012

‘Strong characters, an intriguing and danger-filled plot, and a Museum that once again left me longing for a chance to explore it… this book packed quite the punch. I cannot wait to read more from this author, even though this particular story may be finished.’

West Springfield Public Library online blog

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