The Marzipan Pig - Tapa dura

From the inimitable team of Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake, the pair behind Captain Najork and The Twenty Elephant Restaurant, comes an enchanting story of a little pig made of marzipan.

Fallen behind the sofa, nobody hears the lost marzipan pig’s cries for help. And, after many months, a mouse discovers him and eats him up, having never known such sweetness. But a longing to be loved passes from the marzipan pig to the mouse ... and so begins a curious chain of events featuring a dancing owl, a glowing taxi meter, a buzzing bee and a pinky-orange hibiscus flower – all triggered by the little lost marzipan pig. Each encounter more wonderful and more romantic than the last, just how far will the marzipan’s sweetness travel?

Russell Hoban is the author of many famous novels, including Turtle Diary and Riddley Walker, which won the John W. Campbell Award for science fiction. He also wrote over 50 children’s books, including such classics as The Mouse and His Child, The Sea-Thing Child and, most recently, Rosie’s Magic Horse and Soonchild. Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he moved in 1969 to London, where he lived until his death in 2011.

Quentin Blake is one of the world’s foremost illustrators, particularly renowned for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Michael Rosen and Roald Dahl. His books have won numerous awards, including the Whitbread Prize, the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award. In 1999 he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate, and in 2013 he received a knighthood for his services to illustration. He lives in South West London. Find him online at quentinblake.com and on Twitter as @QuentinBlakeHQ.