FOR MATILDA, LIFE ON a tropical island seems easy. The hardest thing she has to do is think of things to write about at school. Then, a war she knows nothing about takes all their teachers away, and no one is left to teach them…except Mr Watts. Nicknamed Pop Eye, Mr Watts is better known for wearing a red clown nose and pulling his wife around on a trolley. The only education he can offer is to read out his battered copy of Great Expectations page by page. Matilda is transfixed.
Lloyd Jones
Lloyd Jones was born in New Zealand in 1955. He is the author of nine previous novels and collections of stories, which include the award-winning The Book of Fame, Biografi, a New York Times Notable Book, Choo Woo, Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance and Paint Your Wife. Lloyd Jones lives in Wellington.
