Dive in to Firebloom, Justin Davies‘ new magical mystery adventure, with our character round-up! Read on to meet some of the residents of Stormcliff, both friendly and downright villainous, and discover some of the fabulous illustrations by Francesca Ficorilli.

Tally Smuck

Twelve-year-old Tally Smuck is destined to become a Sting Winkler — someone who can communicate with jellyfish. She’s smart, practical and determined to follow in her ancestors’ sting-winkling footsteps.

But as visitors flock to her island’s famous Firebloom festival, there’s no sign of Tally’s vital powers, or the light-and-life-giving sea creatures they’ve come to see…

Can Tally solve the mystery of the missing jellyfish? Perhaps with some help from her friends!

Farran Lum

“I think my fingers have turned to actual jelly this time.”

Farran is Tally’s best friend. He worries a lot and is less outgoing than Tally, but fiercely loyal and very brave (as long as he has his Calm Balm!) His oversized jumper was knitted by his grandfather, and is now more darn than yarn, but he loves it anyway.

Grandad and Mandad

Grandad Isaac and his husband Mandeep – or Mandad, as Tally had always called him – are Tally’s guardians since her mother died six years ago. Tally has been allowed to help them with the sting harvest since she was a child. Mandad claims to have spotted Grandad from a ship half a mile out to sea the day he arrived in Stormcliff, and loved him before he even set foot on the land.

Albert

Albert the cliff rat is cheeky and resourceful, and always happy to help out with cleaning the jellyfish tanks. Ever since Tally had found him sodden and shivering in a puff of sea smoke on their doorstep and nursed him back to health, Albert had lived a kind of double life: half amongst humans and half doing secret Albert things.

 

Colette Potts

Tally’s classmate Colette is often heard before she is seen thanks to the clacking and jangling of the shells she likes to wear in her hair. Her grandmother Petunia is famous in Stormcliff for using shells to read people’s fortunes, but can Colette (or Zasu the Diviner as she prefers to be known) use her inherited gifts to help Tally on her quest?

 

 

 

Pickle Armstrong

Pickle is the proprietor of Stormcliff’s Jellicary – a jelly apothecary full of all manner of balms, ointments and remedies made from the carefully harvested jellyfish stings. Of all the grown-ups in Stormcliff, Pickle easily had the most youthful-looking skin. It was pebble smooth and glowed warmly like a rare golden pearl. Not bad considering she’d been behind the Jellicary counter longer than Mandad had been Grandad’s husband. Tally suspected Pickle used quite a lot of her famous Sting Wrinkle anti-ageing ointment on her own face.

 

Lady Vorpal

Before arriving on Stormcliff years ago, Lady Vorpal had been a ‘famous’ actress – and she still thought the Firebloom Festival was the perfect opportunity to ‘act’ like she was still on stage and be the star of the show. Every year, Lady Vorpal made a show of being the grand host for the festival on her island, but then spent five days prowling around checking how hard everyone else was working to look after the visitors. She would do all of this without once referring to the Smucks, even though without Tally’s family and all her Sting Winkler ancestors, there wouldn’t be a Firebloom Festival in the first place.

Ready to take the plunge and dive in? Order your copy of Firebloom now!

Also by Justin Davies:

Welcome to Haarville. If you’ve arrived, you’ve survived.

In the murky, misty seaside town of Haarville, something smells fishy, and it isn’t the seafood…

Manx Fearty is about to lose his family’s perpetual device shop to some sinister newcomers. Can Manx and his friends untangle secrets and seaweed to save the Fearty legacy and the town?