The Fall of Fergal — Philip Ardagh

The very last words young Fergal McNally heard in his life were: "Don't lean out of that window!" The very last sounds were probably the air whistling past his sticky-out ears as he fell the fourteen stories, the honk of traffic horns below (getting nearer and nearer, of course), and-possibly-the "SP" of the "SPLAT!" he himself made as he hit the pavement. Fergal certainly wouldn't have heard more than the "SP," though, because by the time the "LAT!" part had followed, he would have been well and truly dead.

The first in a darkly hilarious new series from the bestselling author of the Eddie Dickens Trilogy

Philip Ardagh's Unlikely Exploits series chart the extraordinary changes in fortune of the downtrodden McNally family, beginning with The Fall of Fergal. The setting is an unidentified country suffering from an unexpected breakout of large holes.

The McNally children find themselves in the Dell Hotel, the venue for the final of the Tap 'n' Type typing competition, surrounded by a strange assortment of characters ranging from Twinkle-Toes Tweedy, the house detective, to Mr. Peach, a ventriloquist with a very large mustache.

With young Fergal McNally falling to his death on page one, the only way for the McNallys is up . . .