The Highfield Mole

(Tunnels)

Plot summary

The book follows fourteen-year-old Will Burrows who lives in a fictitious London borough called Highfield with his family. Will has little in common with them except for a passion for digging, which he shares with his father. When his father inexplicably disappears down a tunnel, Will decides to investigate with his newfound friend, Chester. Soon they find themselves deep underground, where they discover the Colony, a subterranean city in which people have been living since Georgian times. These people have a deep hatred of anyone from the surface, who they call Topsoilers, and they are ruled by a strange and fanatical group called the Styx.

Publishing background and history

"Tunnels" was originally called "The Highfield Mole". Although the authors sent excerpts to various publishers under that name, they did not pursue that avenue as they had already decided to self-publish the book. The authors self-published on 17 March 2005 with a limited run of 500 hardback and 2,000 softback copies, financed by the sale of Roderick Gordon's house. The book received some trade press attention before launch and the entire hardback run sold within a day. On 19 November 2005, Barry Cunningham, of Chicken House, announced that he had agreed terms to publish "The Highfield Mole" and a second book in the series. In June 2007, Chicken House announced that the book would be published in the United Kingdom in July 2007, and that they had also pre-sold the publication rights in 15 languages (it has now been sold to 38 overseas publishers). The authors and Barry Cunningham also decided to retitle the book "Tunnels", to reflect that it had been changed by some limited editing. The United States publication would be released on 1 January 2008. With the announcement of the publication date, and press coverage in the UK, the price of the books from the initial self-published run jumped dramatically. A number of the copies are signed by the authors and 80 copies drawn from the 500-copy hardback run were numbered as part of a "Remarque" edition. These 80 numbered copies have a hand-drawn illustration by Brian Williams, an inscription by Roderick Gordon, and are signed by both authors. There is also a "Colony Leather Bound Edition" of ten hardbacks, numbered and signed, with a hand-drawn picture by Brian Williams bound into the book. T-shirts, postcards, art prints, and bookmarks which were issued as promotional materials at the time of publication also attract interest from collectors.The sequel, "Deeper", was released in the UK on 5 May 2008 (scheduled for release on 3 February 2009 in the United States), and a third book, "Free Fall", is expected to be released in the UK in 2009. The authors have not yet confirmed exactly how many books will be in the series.

Reception

"Tunnels" received many good reviews, especially since this was the authors' first book. Many reviewers commented on its vivid description, clever twists, and its imaginative plot, particularly "The Observer", Philip Ardagh in "The Guardian", and the "Daily Express". It became an international bestseller in the US in 2007, entering the "New York Times Bestseller List" on two occasions, and achieving seventh place in the "Chaper Books" category on 9 March 2007. It has also been portrayed as "The Next Harry Potter", because Barry Cunningham who publishes the "Tunnels" books under the Chicken House imprint was responsible for the publication of the first Harry Potter book whilst in his previous job at Bloomsbury. However, it has also been criticized for its small portions of character development and its length. Overall, "Tunnels" remains a four out of five star book on most polls. The book was then republished under the title "Tunnels"

Film

There will also be a movie series based on the "Tunnels" books. The film deal with Relativity Media was announced on 13 July 2007. 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". The first "Tunnels" movie is scheduled for cinematic release in 2010.

ee also

* Subterranean fiction
* Lost World

References

*cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i7d47f14b496d7ecc469b7c18833838b9|title=Relativity digs 'Tunnels' as franchise|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=July 13, 2007|accessdaymonth=31 July|accessyear=2007
*cite web|url=http://www.mathewandson.com/stop_press.htm|title=The Highfield Mole|publisher=Matthew and Son|date=June 2007|accessdaymonth=14 June|accessyear=2007
*cite web|url=http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/news/article2643028.ece|title=Publisher of Harry Potter to reveal 'next big thing'|author=Arifa Akbar|date=11 June 2007|accessdaymonth=14 June|accessyear=2007
*cite web|url=http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3882555|title=Rowling publisher creates hype for new boy-wonder series|publisher=The Star|author=Paul Majendie|date=14 June 2007|accessdaymonth=14 June|accessyear=2007
*cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/12/narts312.xml|title= A boy archaeologist as the next Harry Potter?|publisher=Telegraph.co.uk|author=Nigel Reynolds|date=12 June 2007|accessdaymonth=14 June|accessyear=2007
*cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today4_20070613.ram|title=Excerpt from Radio 4's Today programme|publisher=BBC|date=13 June 2007|accessdaymonth=14 June|accessyear=2007|format=Real Audio