The Tale of Truthwater Lake

By: Emma Carroll

Narrated by: Eleanor Bennett

It’s 2032 and Britain is facing yet another heatwave. Temperatures are breaking all records, and now government curfews are in place to ensure people stay indoors out of the sun. But it’s also the school holidays and Polly Carraway is fed up.

When a late night beach swim goes horribly wrong, she’s relieved to be sent away, with her troubled brother Joel, to stay with their aunt, whose house is on the banks of a reservoir.

On arriving Polly’s shocked to see Truthwater Lake is drying up. As the water level drops, a lost village emerges. And even here, in the countryside, it’s still too hot to sleep. Swimming in the lake at midnight, Polly dives down and is suddenly able to breathe, to touch rooftops and see gravestones and hear bird song...

Has Polly found a gateway into the past?

2023, The Young Quills Awards, Long-listed

2024, The Carnegie Medal for Writing Outstanding book written in English for children and young people, Nominated

©2022 Emma Carroll (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

'A superb feat of storytelling.' (Hilary McKay, author of The Skylarks' War)