Rory Hobble and the Voyage to Haligogen

Eleven-year-old Rory Hobble has it tough: he gets upsetting thoughts all the time and they won't go away – 'Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)', the head doctors call it. His mum hasn't been very well for a long while either. Perhaps it's his fault... Maybe that's why she doesn't always feed him; maybe that's why she screams at him. At least Rory has his telescope – gazing at the unchanging stars keeps him calm. But, one night, Rory sees something impossible in the sky: mysterious lights – artificial and definitely not of earthly origin.

When his mum is abducted by the shadowy Whiffetsnatcher, Rory – accompanied by his space-faring, care-experienced social worker, Limmy – travels beyond the Earth, chasing those mysterious lights to the frozen ends of the Solar System. Along the way he must outwit a breakaway human civilisation living on a Martian moon; survive the threat of otherworldly monsters; and learn to speak to alien whales.

But his greatest challenge left Earth with him and it will take all the courage he has not only to overcome his OCD, but to decide whether he wants to rescue an abusive mother if he gets his chance…

'Warm, funny, pacy, endlessly inventive and life-affirming; there are lots of young readers who will identify with Rory' Chris Beckett, Arthur C. Clarke-Award winner

'A boy-and-social-worker space-travelling duo... What's not to love?! A truly unique sci-fi adventure, which does not shy away from the difficult realities being faced by some children here on Earth. Uplifting, and at moments so insightful it staggers, it's definitely a story Aniyah from The Star Outside My Window would have picked up' Onjali Q. Raúf, winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2019 and Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2019