The Circle Breakers

Patience Agbabi

The Circle Breakers by Patience Agbabi (Paperback ISBN 9781838855796) book cover

Available as Paperback, eBook

Elle and her friends are back! This time, they’ll be leaping to the past, the present and the future to safeguard the secret of The Gift and destroy The Vicious Circle

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ADRIEN PRIZE

Fourteen-year-old Elle and her friends are going to a not-to-be-missed funfair. But a ride on the Ghost Train takes them further than they ever imagined. They end up in 1880, face-to-face with criminal mastermind, The Grandfather!

To Elle’s surprise, he needs her help. Someone has threatened to reveal The Gift to the media. If that happens, everyone will know that Leaplings can leap through time; no Leapling will be safe. Meanwhile, Millennia’s power at the head of The Vicious Circle grows.

Will Elle work for a villain to save her secret community? Can she and The Infinites crush The Vicious Circle for good?


“Praise for The Time-Thief: An ingenious, exhilarating adventure”
Sophie Anderson, Author Of The House With Chicken Legs

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“An adventure so thrilling it makes time fly!”
Ben Miller, Author Of The Boy Who Made The World Disappear

“A time-travel mystery that manages to incorporate criminal masterminds, neurodivergence, racial inequalities, intertemporal friendships and Samuel Johnson – all narrated in Elle’s exuberant and energetic voice. Even better than The Infinite! Loved it!”
Fleur Hitchcock, Author Of The Boy Who Flew

“In The Time-Thief, Agbabi has written a second instalment to the Leap Cycle series that even exceeds the first. Elle is a delightful character to follow: not just a well-rounded heroine with a unique set of beautiful insights, but also an important example of meaningful representation in a literary arena where Black autistic girls are rarely represented. In reading The Time-Thief you also get a clear sense of how much Agbabi loves creative wordplay, as she tells a gripping time-travel story that keeps you guessing, while clearly having fun with the English language along the way! A creative, imaginative novel with a fascinating lead character”
Chris Bonnello, Author Of Underdogs

“Thrilling … Starring a brilliant young heroine, this original and inventive adventure story will keep you gripped from beginning to end”
the Week Junior


Patience Agbabi

Patience Agbabi was born in London in 1965 to Nigerian parents, spent her teenage years living in North Wales and now lives in Kent with her husband and children. She has been writing poetry for over twenty years, and her first novel for children, The Infinite, the first in the Leap Cycle series, won a Wales Book of the Year Award. Like Elle, she loves sprinting, numbers and pepper soup, but, disappointingly, her leaping is less spectacular.