Publication Date: 11September 2025

The Blurb

Monty the fox has a dream – but that’s nothing new. Monty is brilliantly clever. But to the despair of his best friend, Nettle the rabbit, he just can’t stick at anything. He’s tried being an inventor, an aeronaut, and a magician; he’s had a go at painting, writing, and exploring – and got bored of them all.

Now Monty is determined to be a detective. Despite the danger, he decides to solve the mystery of The Feathered Book. This priceless work of alchemy has disappeared in baffling circumstances – stolen from a locked and empty room in an underground library known as the labyrinth. What’s more, the work is no ordinary book, for it is reputed to be cursed: many creatures have tried to steal it over the centuries, and all have perished in the attempt.

Leaving his own cosy home in the roots of an old oak tree, Monty sets off to investigate. Dragging cynical Nettle with him, he heads to the ginormous, red-leafed tree that houses the library. But as they sail across the Lake – a huge body of water dotted with wooded islands – they are swept up in a dangerous adventure, featuring pirates, mazes, boobytraps, kidnaps, boat chases and knife fights. Along the way, they meet the motley cast of characters who live on the Lake, from a rakish pirate otter to a kindly police badger, from a sinister and wealthy toad to a meek hedgehog astronomer.

But who stole The Feathered Book? Will Monty the fox manage to catch the thief? And how was the impossible crime committed in the first place?

The Review

The Feathered Book is an absolute treat of a read! From the very first page, you’re whisked off into a magical world that’s just bursting with charm, adventure, and the kind of detail that makes you want to pack a bag and go live in a treehouse by the Lake. It’s cosy and mysterious all at once, the sort of setting that feels like a classic but still manages to surprise you at every turn.

From a giant red-leafed tree to an island-dotted lake, the settings are spectacular, yet for seasoned readers, somehow familiar. And the characters? Just fabulous! Pirate otters, a grumpy astronomer hedgehog, a wonderfully dapper police badger, and of course Monty and Nettle who are the perfect detective pairing. Monty is clever, endlessly curious, and absolutely incapable of sticking to one thing for more than five minutes, until now, and Nettle, who would much rather be safe at home, thank you very much!

Ewa Beniak-Haremska’s stunning illustrations throughout the book help to bring Charlie’s world and characters to life – I am a huge fan of a map at the start of any story and the map of The Lake is a beauty!

Brilliantly paced, warm-hearted, and packed with personality, this is the kind of story that leaves you desperate to return to its world and characters for another cracking crime caper.

The Guest Post – The World Of The Lake by Charlie Nutbrown

In The Feathered Book, a middle grade fantasy novel, Monty the Fox and Nettle the Rabbit attempt to solve a baffling locked-room mystery: the theft of a cursed work of alchemy from a labyrinthine library beneath a humungous oak tree. Setting out to crack the case, however, they are pitched into a dangerous whirlwind of an adventure, facing pirates, booby traps, and the many suspicious characters they meet on the way – including otter pirates, sinister toads, and knife-wielding rats.

Welcome to the Lake. An archipelago of small islands and islets, it is a land of waterfalls and woods, swamps and rivers; of mysterious libraries, book-filled burrows, and secret lairs. With the flora and fauna of the English countryside, it is a recognisable, even comforting world. Yet, underneath this traditional setting, there lurks a hint of gothic and of menace – for here you will meet pirates and crime lords, bank robbers and spies.

Creating the Lake was one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing The Feathered Book. It was a chance to conjure into being exactly the world I wished to read about. So, I did what most writers do: I threw in all my influences, all my passions. Then, stirring and muddling, I mixed them up until – hopefully – I had invented something new.

I expect there is a rather familiar feel to the Lake. After all, it owes much to classic British children’s literature and the tradition of animal stories stretching from The Wind in the Willows, through Watership Down and Redwall, all the way up to, say, The Legend of Podkin One-Ear. There are rabbits and badgers, foxes and otters; there are oak trees and willows, treehouses and burrows. In spring, the bluebells bloom in the dappled woods; in the autumn, red leaves crunch beneath paws.

But there are other influences too. From Mervyn Peake, I took outlandish names and grotesque characters. From the incomparable Joan Aiken, I acquired breathless, topsy-turvy adventure. From Ursula K. Le Guin – one of my great heroes – I borrowed a mysterious archipelago. The tiny islands and small boats suggest Swallows and Amazons. The labyrinth within a library nods to Umberto Eco and Jorge Luis Borges. And, of course, I took something of the atmosphere of Golden Age detective stories and, particularly, the world of Sherlock Holmes – with their curiously alluring mix of the reassuring and the macabre.

So that is the Lake: a great jumble of all the worlds and stories I have loved. And, indeed, I have enjoyed spending time in the Lake so much, I hope to return there with Monty and Nettle – sailing to islands as yet undiscovered, meeting new friends, facing fresh villains. For on the Lake, I know, there are plenty more adventures to have and many more mysteries to solve.

Huge thanks to Charlie for such an insightful guest post – I definitely felt at home in the Lake and now, having read about the many influences, I completely understand why. Huge thanks also to Mikka at Everything With Words for sending me a review copy and inviting me to take part in The Feathered Book Blog Tour. Do make sure you check out all of the other stops.