The Bookseller’s Apprentice by Amelia Mellor
About Amelia Mellor
Amelia Mellor began her writing career as her secondary school’s resident playwright in Year 11. As part of her creative writing course at the University of Melbourne, she completed a thesis on the reinvention of the Industrial Revolution in children’s fantasy literature. Her debut novel, The Grandest Bookshop in the World, has won an Australian Book Industry Award, an Indie Book Award, a NSW Premier’s Literary Award and a Booksellers’ Choice Award. When she isn’t writing, Amelia enjoys hiking, gardening and drawing.
About The Bookseller’s Apprentice
Return to Amelia Mellor’s magical Melbourne in the prequel to best-seller The Grandest Bookshop in the World.
Twelve-year-old Billy Pyke has a talent for sorting things out, whether it’s his chaotic family home or the busy book stall at Paddy’s Market. In 1871, the market is the loud, smelly, marvellous heart of Melbourne, and Billy is delighted to work at the book stall there for the eccentric Mr Cole. When his new friend Kezia warns him of a sinister magician called the Obscurosmith, Billy can’t believe her stories of magical deals gone horribly wrong – until he sees them happening. And the night that the Obscurosmith crosses a terrifying and dangerous line, Billy realises something: if he wants the Obscurosmith stopped, he’ll have to do it himself.
Award-winning author Amelia Mellor delivers another race-against-time adventure in this action-packed prequel to The Grandest Bookshop in the World. Loaded with tricks, riddles, magic and mayhem, The Bookseller’s Apprentice is perfect for Mellor fans and newcomers alike.
A Quote from Amelia Mellor
“To have The Bookseller’s Apprentice celebrated through this award as the best work of children’s historical fiction this year is just glorious. I take the historical research seriously, and I take the artistry of the writing seriously – even as I take a bit of fantastical poetic license or crack the odd pun. It’s extremely gratifying to receive the immense praise for my efforts that this award represents. Thank you for elevating my interpretation of Australian social history and for championing historical fiction by Australian voices.”
Judges Report
The 2023 judging panel for the CYA category included Christopher Cheng (Chair), Dr Craig Cormick and Lauren Keenan.
According to Cheng, “This year the judges are so very pleased to announce that the winner of the Children’s and Young Adult Novel Award Category is The Booksellers Apprentice by Amelia Mellor.”
“In a delightful longlist of impressive and well crafted titles, this book broke through to win. Like the other shortlisted titles it easily accomplished the goal of the awards, that is, the entertainment and education of readers as it contributes to the knowledge of the reader and provides a valid perspective beyond the viewpoint of the historian.”
“Mellor’s wonderfully crafted narrative, woven with magic, is a prequel to The Grandest Bookshop in the World which was also shortlisted for this award in 2021, and, like it’s predecessor, The Booksellers Apprentice will have readers hungry for more.”
“Set in 1871 this title is interlaced with historical facts skilfully crafted throughout, and, as Mellor writes in her historical notes: the characters, even though invented would fit right into the real market … as they could all be found there at different points in history. Mellor’s authorial skill has cleverly deposited the reader into the Victorian era society, where we can easily sense the life and wildness of the original Paddy’s Market (properly called the Eastern Market because it was at the eastern end of Bourke Street), Melbourne’s Coles Bookstore, as well as Billy Pike and Edward Cole.”
“What a gift this unputdownable book is to readers of all ages,” said Cheng.
