 First edition | |
| Author | Robin Jarvis |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Deptford Mice |
| Genre | Dark fantasy |
| Publisher | Macdonald & Company |
Publication date | 1989 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | 9781587171123 |
| OCLC | 849988788 |
| Followed by | The Crystal Prison |
The Dark Portal is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. The first book in The Deptford Mice trilogy and Jarvis's debut novel, it follows the story of Audrey Brown, a mouse girl who is looking for her missing father. Her search takes her into the sewers of Deptford where, with the help of her friends and family, she must face an army of evil rats and their living god, a mysterious being known as Jupiter.[1]
The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Macdonald & Company in 1989, and was a runner-up for that year's Nestlé Smarties Book Prize.[2] In 2000, it was published by SeaStar Books in the United States[3] and given the Booklist Editors' Choice designation.[4][5]
In March 2024, Pushkin Children's Books reissued The Dark Portal in paperback and ebook formats. The text was given "a thorough dusting" and new illustrations were done by Jarvis.[6]
- ^ Phillips, Lawrence; Witchard, Anne (23 September 2010). London Gothic: Place, Space and the Gothic Imagination. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 115. ISBN 9781441159977.
- ^ Text on the front cover of the 2000 Hodder Silver edition of The Dark Portal.
- ^ "NORTH-SOUTH/SEASTAR". Publishers Weekly. 247 (29). 17 July 2000.
- ^ "EDITORS' CHOICE 2000". Booklist. 1 January 2001.
- ^ Encyclopedia.com | Contemporary Authors | Jarvis, Robin 1963- .
- ^ Fraser, Katie. "Pushkin Children's to reissue Jarvis' 'spine-tingling' 90s fantasy series". The Bookseller. Retrieved 29 March 2024.