Abomination [Paperback]

Robert Swindells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 2007

Martha is 12 and very different from other kids—no TV, no computer, no cool clothes, and especially no friends. It's all because of her parents, who are strict members of a religious group called the Brethren. Their rules dominate Martha's life, and one rule is the most important of all: she must never ever invite anyone home. If she does, their terrible secret—Abomination—could be revealed. But as Martha makes her first real friend in Scott, a new boy at school, she begins to wonder, Is she doing the right thing by helping to keep Abomination a secret? And just how far will her parents go to prevent the truth from being known?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A dark compelling story of religious intolerance . . . absolutely unmissible." 

—The Bookseller

About the Author

Robert Swindells is the author of a number of bestselling titles, including the Carnegie Medal-winning Stone Cold. Abomination was shortlisted for the Children's Book Award and the Whitbread Children's Book Award.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers (January 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552555886
• ISBN-13: 978-0552555883
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,355,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Swindells left school at fifteen to work on a local newspaper. At seventeen, he joined the RAF for three years, then trained and worked as a teacher. Now a full-time writer, he is the author of a number of bestselling titles for the Random House children's list. In 1994 he won the Carnegie Medal for STONE COLD (Hamish Hamilton), a teenage novel about a serial killer.
RUBY TANYA won the Salford Children's Book Award 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have to read this awsome book!!!, October 4, 2001

By 

A 10-year old reader (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abomination (Paperback)

Ambomination is an exellent book! It is hard for me to find books that I like and this book was great from the start! Ambomination is about a girl named Martha who is very different from the other children. Her mother makes her clothes and she can't invite anyone in the house because they might find out about Abomination. This book kept me reading because I wanted to know what Abomination was and what would happen to Martha. This book was the best book I ever read! Martha is beaten by her parents and starved so I would recomend this book to anyone who wouldn't mind reading about parents who beat and starve their children and I recomend this book to people that don't like reading. Trust me this book rocks!!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 19, 2009

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abomination (Paperback)

Martha is bullied at school because of her clothes and introverted personality, but Scott is also new at this school, and feels sorry for Martha. Soon he, too, is being bullied by the other kids.

In ABOMINATION, the bad guys are a religious extremist group that encourages child abuse, dictates what its parishioners wear, and regulates how they behave. It is a condemning look at a religious faction in which the families do not have television, computers, or cell phones.

Twelve-year-old Martha is not allowed to have friends, and can never invite anyone to their house...they might learn of the actual Abomination that lives in the basement.

Her older sister, Mary, was expelled from the family at age 16 for bad behavior, and now sends an occasional post card to Martha, which is promptly torn up by their father, and then retrieved and saved by Martha. Though Martha is required to feed and care for the Abomination, the identity of this creature is not revealed until near the end of the book.

When Martha realizes what has actually happened with her sister, she and Scott decide to try to contact her, and the suspense kicks into high gear as the kids defy Martha's parents to right a terrible wrong.

Swindells has crafted a compelling novel that will keep you reading to the very last page.

Reviewed by: Grandma Bev

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever, October 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Abomination (Paperback)

This is a total thriller and i loved it to bits.
it's great how they keep you in suspense about what abomination is. I'm glad it was reccomended to me i would read it again
1000000 times over!!