Elder Moon
Holundermond

jutta wilke holundermond
February 2011 / 320pp
Children’s & Young Adults’

This book is outside of the five-year window for guaranteed assistance with English language translation. We suggest getting in touch with the relevant funding body for an informal conversation about the possibility of support. Please refer to to our  recommendations page for books that are currently covered by our funding guarantee.

review

A magical tale of danger, suspense and travel through time, this elegantly written and ambitious novel will be a definite hit with a 10+ readership.

Elder Moon begins in a church-cum-hospital in 1783. Johanna is watching over her little brother Samuel, who is desperately ill. In the middle of the night she sees a man with a golden chalice disappear into a painting behind the altar, and decides to follow him.

Back in the present, Nele stows away in her father’s van. A church historian, he is investigating a recent spate of thefts of religious artifacts. But her father disappears after going to meet a colleague, the sinister Dr Holzer, and so Nele – together with her friend Flavio – is forced to take the investigation into her own hands.

At night under an elder tree they meet Johanna, and discover they can slip from present to past through the altar painting. Now in a race against time to save not only Nele’s father but also Samuel, the children gradually unravel the mystery of the thefts and Dr Holzer’s dark purpose.

Wilke blends the themes of bestsellers like The Da Vinci Code with a wonderfully evocative style and a sense of narrative and pace that will make this book an undoubted winner.

about the author

Jutta Wilke spent over twelve years as a lawyer, specialising in family law. After the birth of her fourth child, she retired in order to devote herself to her family. When her youngest began nursery school, she decided to start from scratch once again and finally do what she had always dreamed of: become a children’s author. Wilke currently lives with her family in Hanau, the birthplace of the Grimm Brothers. This is her first novel.

rights information

Coppenrath Verlag
Tel: +49 251 414 11 819
Email: davis@coppenrath.de
Contact: Rita Davis 
www.coppenrath.de 

Coppenrath Verlag is an independently-owned publishing house founded in 1768. Coppenrath has since become a leading German publisher of children’s books and gift books for adults. Well-known characters include the wandering stuffed rabbit named Felix, a fairy named Princess Lillifee and a loyal little pirate named Capt’n Sharky.

translation assistance

Applications should be made to the Goethe-Institut.

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All recommendations from Spring 2011