City of Lies, by Lian Tanner

Six months have passed since the Great Storm. Since then, Goldie has been asked repeatedly to take up her position as the Fifth Keeper at the Museum. But she can’t – because her parents need her.

Goldie was dreaming. She knew it was a dream because Blessed Guardian Hope was there, a plump figure in a black cloak and black boxy hat, with the punishment chains coiled like pythons around her waist.
‘Your’e supposed to be dead,’ whispered Goldie. ‘You died in the Great Storm.’
Guardian Hope smiled and pulled a thin silver chain from the pocket of her robes. She held it up to the light. Then She began to thread it, bit by bit, between Goldie’s ribs and around her heart…

Six months have passed since the Great Storm. Since then, Goldie has been asked repeatedly to take up her position as the Fifth Keeper at the Museum. But she can’t – because her parents need her. Goldie is on the way to the museum to tell them that she can’t be a Keeper, when Toadspit’s sister Bonnie is kidnapped. Instead of going to the Museum, Goldie is soon aboard a ship, hiding from Bonnie’s captors as she tries to figure out how to rescue her.

When they land in the city of Spoke, Goldie must use all her wits – and the help of friends old and new – to rescue Bonnie and Toadspit, and stop the Fugleman returning to Jewel.

City of Lies, the second in The Keepers series is an exciting adventure fantasy forchildren, best read having read the first, Museum of Thieves. Goldie is resourceful and feisty, facing her enemies with courage, whilst also facing insecurities. The opponents she faces are often horrible, but there is light relief from some bumbling. and pleasure from the friends she makes along the way.

Fans will eagerly await the final installment in this trilogy.

City of Lies (Keepers)


City of Lies, by Lian Tanner
Allen & Unwin, 2011
ISBN 9781742371962

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond.