Age 7-9

Pearce, the author of such children’s classics as Tom’s Midnight Garden and A Dog So Small, has written her first new novel for 20 years. This book is about Bet, a little girl who meets a mole with the power of speech and a curious history. It transpires that he is the same mole, under a spell that has kept him alive for 300 years, who was toasted by the Jacobites as “the little gentleman in black velvet” when William III’s horse stumbled on a molehill in 1702, and the king fell off and died from his injuries. Bet exchanges confidences with the mole, as she undergoes a huge change in her own family life. She has a magical experience of what moleness is like, and ultimately has to make a sacrifice to do her velvety friend a favour. Benson’s fine line drawings, minutely depicting every hair on the mole’s back, and every blade of grass or leaf on a tree, affectionately evoke the rural setting and the characters of Bet’s family and friends. Typically for Pearce, this is not only a story of page-turning compulsiveness, written with elegance and wisdom, but is also rich in history. Pearce’s powers certainly have not lessened.

THE LITTLE GENTLEMAN by Philippa Pearce, illustrations by Patrick Benson

(Puffin £9.99)

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

• Audio Books

Times Recommends

• The 100 Best Books of the Decade
• The Times picks the 50 best paperbacks of 2009
• The conversation: James Ellroy