The Whisper Man

by Alex North

I shook my head. I was sitting by Jake’s bed, holding Power of Three open at the last page, staring into space. We had just finished the book, and then I had got distracted. Lost in thought.

When I was a kid, Diana Wynne Jones was my favourite writer, and Power of Three was my favourite of her books. I chose it for Tom to be reading to Jake throughout The Whisper Man not only on that basis, but also because I happened to be reading it to my own son at the time. It was a little later in the writing process that I realised - as Tom does earlier in the novel - that the title has meaning for a family of three reduced to two and struggling with that loss. In addition, I also realised that Power of Three is about a father and son who are having trouble understanding and connecting to each other. So what started as pure coincidence turned out to be a serendipitous choice. As a nod to that, the house Tom and Jake move to is on Garholt Street, which I named after Garholt, the magical place on the moor in which the family in Power of Three live. Make sure to check out my latest book, THE SHADOWS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52796734-the-shadows For which I've also written Kindle Notes and Highlights: https://www.goodreads.com/notes/51026324-the-shadow-friend/119790035-alex-north