Awards

• Short-listed for Booktrust Teenage Prize 2003
• Shortlisted for Booktrust Teenage Prize 2003.

Overview

A medieval tragedy and tale of retribution – The Dungeon is a powerful story from a writer of great skill and potency. The setting is medieval Scotland, a land dominated by skirmishes and battles on the borders, a land of fortresses and castles in Scotland, England and Wales. We meet Bruce McLennan, a Scottish laird, a man sorely-changed by a terrible family tragedy. He is a domineering master, an uncaring landlord, a cruel man, who has his heart set on building himself a castle and a Dungeon in which to punish his enemies in the future. But while the dungeon is being built, McLennan plans a trip to the far ends of the earth. As we follow McLennan on his travels to China and beyond, we witness his buying of Peony, or Mudan, as her Chinese name is, a young girl who McLennan uses as a slave. He is uncaring, unsympathetic, as he drags her after him across the world. Gradually, knowing no other, Peony develops a kind of affection for her master. In Scotland, Peony meets Fin, a stable lad and a loving friendship develops between them. McLennan, busy fighting off enemies, uses Peony in an horrific scene in one of his battles; he looses badly and subsequently blames her. He decides to punish her by throwing her in his dungeon… then unfolds a ghastly scene where Peony kills herself, at last in control of her own destiny. McLennan dies of guilt, shame and remorse. Fin lives on, and even Peony, perhaps, in his new baby sister.

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9780007137787

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Reviews

Fourteenth-century Scottish laird Bruce MacLennan commissions a castle complete with dungeon, then embarks on a trip following the path of Marco Polo. MacLennan has suffered a tragedy at the hands of an enemy, revealed in full only near the story's end, and he hopes to blunt his pain through travel. A fierce fighter, he quickly becomes part of a private army when he reaches China, where he also buys Peony, a young Chinese girl, to be his slave. The omniscient narrator then observes the child's thoughts and emotions as she serves her seemingly cold-hearted master, encounters new lands and, on their return to Scotland, becomes friends with a stable boy. During their trip back, Banks (Harry the Poisonous Centipede's Big Adventure, 2001, etc.) hints heavily that Peony might be softening MacLennan's heart, and refers all too often to the tragic demise of his family. Intent on getting revenge, MacLennan throws himself and his people into an ill-considered attack on his enemy, then vents his rage at losing on Peony. The story moves along at a good clip with the excitement of travel and battle, combined with strong descriptive writing about China and Scotland. But MacLennan is so self-absorbed and has so little regard for Peony as a person that, even with the full revelation of his tragedy, readers will have a hard time finding him sympathetic. Peony, though far more agreeable, seems distant and, especially at the conclusion, romanticized. Nevertheless, those who don't object to some melodrama, may enjoy the journey and the ample historical detail. (Fiction. 12+) (Kirkus Reviews)

Set in mediaeval Scotland and China, this gripping novel is both swashbuckling adventure story and moral fable. Against a backdrop of tribal feuding, Lynne Reid Banks explores the themes of friendship, forgiveness and revenge. Bruce McLennan is a rich laird whose family have been slaughtered by rival Archibald McInnes. Bereft, McLennan journeys to China to forget his grief. During his adventures, McLennan buys a young girl, Peony, to be his slave. Peony and McLennan eventually return to Scotland where he builds a grand new castle and dungeon and sets about avenging his family's deaths. His bitterness is set against the friendship which blooms between Peony and Fin McLean, the stable lad. The central characters are strong and well rounded. Banks is quick to show the motives behind extreme behaviour: she fully accounts for McLennan's cruelty and Peony's blind devotion. The relationships between characters are beautifully observed, particularly McLennan's begrudging love for Peony, and Peony's bewilderment at Fin's affection. The plot is pacey and original. Banks establishes McLennan's thirst for revenge from the start then takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the mediaeval Silk Route. The second half of the novel focuses on feudal in-fighting and McLennan's cruel treatment of Peony. Banks balances the bloodshed and fighting with moving emotional scenes in which the characters become more reflective. Banks is skilled at showing the world afresh through the eyes of an outsider: she gives life to worlds which might otherwise seem distant to the modern young reader. McLennan's awe in China is matched only by Peony's sense of wonderment in Scotland. The reader is encouraged to discover these settings along with the characters. This is an exciting and sensitive novel. Banks invites her readers to engage fully with the characters and so delivers her moral message unobtrusively. Ages 12+ (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Lynne Reid Banks is a best-selling author for children and adults. Her classic children’s novel ‘The Indian in the Cupboard’ has sold nearly six million copies worldwide. She was born in London in 1929 and worked as an actress, writer and TV news reporter. Lynne has written thirty books: her first, ‘The L-Shaped Room’, was published in 1960. She now lives in Dorset, where she continues to write. Lynne says that writing for children comes much more easily than writing for adults.

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