Tunnels (novel)

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Tunnels - Book 1
Cover of the renamed edition of The Highfield Mole, with the new name Tunnels
Author	Roderick Gordon, Brian Williams
Original title	The Highfield Mole
Country	UK
Language	English
Series	Tunnels
Genre(s)	Science Fiction Subterranean fiction Lost World
Publisher	The Chicken House
Publication date	3 Jul 2007
Pages	464
ISBN	9781905294428 (UK First Edition, Paperback)
Followed by	Deeper

Tunnels, a children’s science fiction, fantasy and adventure story is the debut novel of co-authors Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. ^[1] The first book in an intended series, it follows 14 year-old archaeologist Will Burrows who discovers a hidden city beneath the streets of Highfield, a fictitious London borough. However, many revelations and horrors await him in the subterranean world, ruled by the merciless Styx, who harbour a deep hatred for everyone who lives above ground, referring to them as Topsoilers. ^[2]

[edit] Publishing background

Tunnels was originally titled The Highfield Mole, and 2,500 copies were self-published by the authors in March 2005. In November of that year, they were signed by Barry Cunningham of Chicken House, who is also the man credited with discovering J K Rowling. This connection resulted in significant media attention and Tunnels being branded as “the next Harry Potter“. ^[3] Since its release on 3 July 2007, Tunnels has been sold to over 40 overseas publishers, been a best seller in numerous countries including America, where it reached sixth place on the New York Times Best Seller List, Romania, France and the Czech Republic. Tunnels was also a finalist on TV Channel 4’s Richard & Judy’s Best Kids Book’s Ever (11+). The authors have never confirmed publicly how many books they intend to write in the Tunnels series. The sequel Deeper was released in the UK on 5 May 2008, and in the US on 3rd February 2009, very soon after becoming a New York Times Bestseller in the footsteps of Tunnels. A third book Freefall was published on 18th May 2009 in the UK. The authors are currently working the fourth book in the series, to be released in the UK in early 2010.

[edit] Plot development

The authors were fascinated by the idea of a secret world beneath their feet. Roderick Gordon conceived the character Will Burrows, whilst digging in his garden, which was rumoured to contain a tunnel that led to the local church. Brian Williams was intrigued by the mysterious underground Williamson Tunnels built by Victorian businessman Joseph Williamson in his home town of Liverpool. ^[4] An obvious source of inspiration and one that the authors openly acknowledge is Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, both in its subterranean story line and Verne’s use of established scientific fact for the foundation for his narrative.

[edit] Plot summary

Breaking Ground (Part 1)
In an underground tunnel beneath the fictitious London borough of Highfield, fourteen-year-old Will Burrows and his father Dr Burrows discover a disused Victorian underground train station. Will and his father share a passion for discovering what lies hidden beneath the ground and when not at school, the young archaeologist can be found digging extensive excavations around Highfield, latterly with his best and only real friend Chester. Dr Burrows is the curator of the Highfield museum, and one day a local resident shows him a small round orb in a metal cage, which gives off an intense light which grows brighter the darker its surroundings become. For some time Dr Burrows has been aware of rather incongruous thick-set men wearing caps and dark glasses. He follows one of these "pallid men" into the basement of an almshouse where the luminescent orb was also discovered, and he comes across black overcoats, flat caps and thick sun-glasses stored inexplicably in an old wardrobe.
Will arrives home from his latest dig to find his younger sister Rebecca listening to an argument between the usually withdrawn Dr Burrows and TV addict Mrs Burrows. Dr Burrows storms into the cellar, but when after several days he doesn‘t emerge Will becomes worried. He finds his father isn’t down there, and seems to have vanished. Will enlists Chester's help to find out where he's gone. In his father's journal they find notes about the pallid men, and an entry from the night of the argument, which says "found a way in". In Dr Burrows’ cellar they find a passageway behind some bookshelves. They re-excavate it and eventually come across a door set into the rock, with three large handles.

The Colony (part 2)
Going through the door, the boys travel down in an old lift and, to their surprise, eventually walk out into a cobblestone street. Lit by a row of lamps resembling larger versions of Dr Burrows' luminescent orb, there are houses, which appear to be carved out of the walls themselves. Despite Chester’s reservations, Will explores further but they are soon arrested by a large and aggressive police officer, who calls them ‘Topsoilers’. The boys are held in a prison cell and they are later interrogated by two formidable looking men, known as Styx. Will unexpectedly receives visitors, a Mr Jerome and his son Cal, who claims that Will is his brother, and that Will’s real name is Seth Jerome. Despite Will's reluctance to leave Chester, he is persuaded to accompany Cal to the Colony. Shown into a house, he meets Grandma Macaulay and his imposing Uncle Tam, who unlike his real father, Mr Jerome, is delighted to meet him. He also meets a giant and hairless cat called Bartleby, who is a “Hunter” bred in the Colony to catch rats for eating.
Will is shown a picture of his real mother Sarah Jerome, who escaped to the surface taking Will with her. Distant memories are rekindled that leave him in no doubt that he was born in the Colony and that this is his biological family. Uncle Tam tells Will that his father went willingly into the Deeps - a place even deeper in the Earth than the Colony. And Will also learns that the Styx are likely to "Banish" Chester there because they can never allow him to return home. Will refuses to abandon his friend, and Uncle Tam formulates a plan for him to rescue Chester, and for them to escape Topsoil through a place called the Eternal City. Tackling the police officer, Will springs Chester from the cells and together they make for the portal to the Eternal City. However numerous Styx turn up along with Will’s sister, Rebecca, who is revealed to be a Styx. A struggle follows but Chester is recaptured as Will flees with Cal and Bartleby, and they enter a complex of tunnels.

The Eternal City (part 3)
On entering the labyrinth of tunnels, Will insists that Cal wear their only mask, hoping that the plague in the Eternal City Uncle Tam talked about was just another of the Colonists' many myths. Bathed in a subdued green light they approach the magnificent but crumbling Eternal city, with beautifully carved structures, coliseums and cathedrals. They avoid the Styx soldiers who patrol the city with their vicious stalker attack dogs, and emerge on to the bank of the Thames. Will makes for his home in Highfield, but when there his health deteriorates and they are forced to seek somewhere else where they will be safe from the Styx. Will convalesces at Auntie Jean’s flat, although he knows that he will have to return underground to find his father and attempt a second rescue of Chester. Cal is relieved to be going back, but Will is aware that his brother can never return to his home in the Colony.
At Blackfriars Bridge they take the steps down to the hidden entrance to the Eternal City. However, this time it is cloaked in thick fog, and when this fog partially lifts they blunder into a Styx patrol. Fleeing in panic, Will is attacked by a stalker, but Bartleby intervenes to do battle. The boys head for the marshy perimeter where they are intercepted by Tam and fellow maverick Imago. At the entrance to the Labyrinth, they hear a Styx voice calling out Tam’s name. Armed with a machete, Tam turns to face his arch Styx enemy, the Crawfly, who is holding a small scythe in each hand. Just when Tam appears to be losing, he delivers a lethal blow to the Crawfly. Mortally wounded, Tam remains behind to delay the advance of their Styx pursuers and, led by Imago, the boys escape back into the Labyrinth. Imago takes Will to an opening in the ground and shows him the railway tracks below and their route down to the Deeps, five miles below the Colony. Will and Cal leap onto the moving Miner’s Train and, as he explores the trucks, Will finds himself looking into the grimy tear-stained face of Chester. To be continued in Deeper. ^[5]

[edit] The Highfield Mole and change of title to Tunnels

THE HIGHFIELD MOLE and Limited Edition Art Prints of characters: The Crawfly, Bartleby and Rebecca

The Highfield Mole was self-published by the authors on 17th March 2005. A run of 2,000 paperbacks and 500 hardbacks were released under the imprint of Mathew & Son Limited, a company set up by Roderick Gordon. The hardback editions of The Highfield Mole included a numbered series of eighty Remarque editions in which Roderick Gordon wrote inscriptions and Brian Williams did special drawings. Following a review in The Book and Magazine Collector by Stuart Webb, the hardback editions sold out within a day and are now highly sought after by collectors. ^[6] In an Abebooks article they were rated as the second most collectable book priced over £250 in 2007. ^[7]

Once the authors had been signed by Chicken House, in November 2005, The Highfield Mole went through further editing, first with Kate Egan of Scholastic in the US, and subsequently with a Chicken House in-house editor. Although no analysis of the differences between the two books is known to exist, three new scenes stand out as later additions to Tunnels. In the first of these Will's evil sister Rebecca is described as she wanders the Burrows house at night time. The other two scenes, which fall later in the book, tell of Chester's suffering at the hands of the Colonists and the Styx. Before its release in 2007, the book was renamed Tunnels because Barry Cunningham of Chicken House wanted a simpler and more modern title, and because he and the authors agreed that this was desirable as the book had been subject to a degree of revision. And although The Highfield Mole contained a number of illustrations by Brian Williams, including Rebecca, Bartleby, a Coprolite and The Eternal City, very few of these were carried forward to the UK edition of Tunnels because of concerns about the length of the book.

[edit] Reception

Tunnels has been generally well received, with a number of positive reviews by critics.

• Philip Ardagh, The Guardian

…fantastic fun. What works so well is that, once they are captured by the underground Colonists, there is a revelation far greater than the long-expected discovery. Not only is this wholly unexpected, but it puts a totally different perspective on what follows. The final two-thirds of the book really comes to life, with more twists and revelations along the way. It's well paced, exciting and - in places - frightening and bloody. (You have been warned.) The danger in the darkness is very real and is well worth the wait. ^[8]

• Kidsreads.com

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams have weaved an amazing tale. TUNNELS offers mystery, adventure, exploration and danger, with every page packed with action. A variety of characters, from admirable to repulsive, band together to lure readers through this maze of surprises and secrets. ^[9]

• Daily Express

Does it live up to the hype? Yes. ..a corker of a plot…quite as original as that of Harry Potter, with it’s own history, dialogue, customs and even religion. It is also absolutely terrifying in parts. This is the first of a trilogy and ends on a spectacular note. The authors of Tunnels have the beginnings of a sensational series on their hands. (Virginia Blackburn, Daily Express 6 July 2007). ^[10]

• The Ten Best Children's Audio Books, The Independent

A thrilling romp through a world of tunnels that snake beneath London . When Will Burrows' father vanishes, he heads underground to find him but discovers more than he bargained for. Narrated by Jack Davenport; £9.99. ^[11]

[edit] Film and Audio

Rights to the film for Tunnels (book 1) have been purchased by Relativity Media, which is expected to be released in 2010. ^[12] Relativity Media is the production company responsible for 3:10 to Yuma, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and in the field of children's entertainment, The Spiderwick Chronicles (film). BBC Audiobooks Ltd have produced an adbridged CD set of Tunnels, read by Jack Davenport of Pirates of the Caribbean fame. In the US, an unabridged 12 CD set released by Recorded Books and read by Steven Crossley was released in December 2007.

[edit] Characters

Will Burrows - The main character in the Tunnels books, Will is a resourceful 14 year old whose main pleasure in life is to dig. Will isn't just digging any old holes in the ground but, driven by his fascination of the buried past, he embarks on extensive excavations and tunnels, which require the specialist skills of a miner. He is influenced and supported in this pursuit by his father, Dr Burrows, whose dissatisfaction with his job as curator of the local museum in Highfield induces him to live his life through his son. Will is an albino with completely white hair and pale blue eyes, and his appearance is completely at odds with the rest of his family, with whom he feels very little affinity with the exception of his father. His appearance also leads to him be picked on at school and he generally steers clear of the other pupils until he strikes up a friendship with Chester Rawls, who is also teased because he suffers from bad eczema. Their shared treatment at the hands of Speed, the school bully, and his band of followers called the Greys, bring Will and Chester closer together, and this friendship is cemented when Chester shows an interest in Will's underground excavations.

After Dr Burrows goes missing, Will is single-minded in his determination to find him and this leads him and Chester eventually to the Colony under Highfield, where they face brutal interrogations by the ruthless Styx. Will learns he was born in the Colony as he meets his real family, including his father and his younger brother, Cal. Will's gradual acceptance of his real origins throws him into emotional confusion - his loyalties are split between the Topsoil family in which he has grown up, and his new biological family in the Colony with whom he feels a sense of belonging. But he isn't able to accept his new life in the Colony because of the looming threat that his friend Chester is to be killed or Banished to the Deeps, and Will is also set on following after his father who has voluntarily gone deeper into the Earth. Aided by his larger than life relative, Uncle Tam, Will plans to spring Chester from the prison where he is being held, but this is foiled when Will’s Topsoil sister, Rebecca, intervenes. Will is dumbfounded as he discovers that she is a member of the ruling class in the Colony, the Styx, and Chester is left behind as Will heads into a "London below London" called the Eternal City, with Cal and his cat Bartleby.

Once he emerges Topsoil again, Will realises that everything has changed for him. His stepmother, Mrs Burrows, has gone away to recover from a nervous breakdown and he has no home he can go back to. Furthermore, he realises that he will be forced to live permanently on the run from the Styx, whose influence extends everywhere, and he also feels responsible for his brother, who proves to be unable to adjust to Topsoil life. Resigned to the fact that the people he most cares about are deep underground and there is nothing for him Topsoil, he plans to return there.

The media often refer to Will as the "boy archaeologist" and the authors have accepted this tagline, although Will's interests are wider than this and extend to palaeontology. It might be also be argued that Will's passion was first and foremost the physical exertion and the feeling of accomplishment he obtained from the act of digging itself, and his interest in archaeology secondary to this.

Other characters to follow

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tunnels Official Website
• TunnelsDeeper Fan Site (UK) - Author Events, Discussion Forum, Media Archives
• The Highfield Mole, Mathew & Son Official Website
• Chicken House Publishing Ltd
• Scholastic, US Publisher - includes video interview with authors
• Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool (UK) - For Video of Author reading Tunnels excerpt, see Official Website
• Website of Tunnels and Deeper in Spanish
• Spanish website forum for fans.