The Abominables

Written by Eva Ibbotson

Narrated by Kate Lock

Deep in the Himalayas, the daughter of an English earl is kidnapped by a huge hairy monster. Agatha Farlingham is introduced to a family of motherless yetis and devotes her life to their upbringing. She teaches them to talk, tells them stories and insists on polite manners. But as time passes, tourists and yeti-hunters arrive in to the mountains. Agatha knows that there is one place where they would be protected – at her home in England.

So begins a hugely entertaining road trip half way across the world…

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Jul 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471204531

Eva Ibbotson

Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna in 1925 and moved to England with her father when the Nazis came into power. Ibbotson wrote more than twenty books for children and young adults, many of which garnered nominations for major awards for children's literature in the UK, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the Whitbread Prize. Eva's critically acclaimed Journey to the River Sea won the Smarties Gold Medal in 2001. Set in the Amazon, it was written in honour of her deceased husband Alan, a former naturalist. Imaginative and humorous, Eva's books often convey her love of nature, in particular the Austrian countryside, which is evident in works such as The Star Of Kazan and A Song For Summer. Eva passed away at her home in Newcastle on October 20th 2010. Her final book, One Dog and His Boy, was published in May 2011.

Reviews for The Abominables

[vivienner_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sweet story about sweet yetis brought up by the young daughter of a Victorian botanist who was collecting rare plants in the Himalayas. Lady Agatha taught them to be well-mannered and thoughtful. It paid off when, fleeing tourists, they had an adventurous journey from the Himalayas to her manor home in England. Did you know the reason a yeti hasn't been discovered is because their feet are on backwards? Their footsteps take the tracker in the opposite direction.

[jjvors_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eva Ibbotson, with her idiosyncratic style of humor, centers her story The Abominables around a family of abominable snowmen--trained in English manners--who migrate to England, while hiding in a refrigerated truck. That's your plot synopsis. Let your imagination run wild--Eva will surprise you. Highly entertaining for all ages, but only if you have a sense of humor.

[sszkutak_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received The Abonimables at BEA 2013 and I am sad to say that many of the books I received are still in my TBR pile – I went a bit overboard… Anywho, this book was very cute. I had not heard of Eva Ibbotson before this book, but she was a beautiful writer of whimsy. She took a surreal topic and although far-fetched made it seem possible. In the book we meet Lady Agatha, a young girl kidnapped by a yeti. She lives with them and raises the children, teaches them all sorts of things, and when marketing and development start to take over their homestead she decides that they should move to her old home in England, the Farley Towers.The book is filled with illustrations and because I only had an ARC some were even just the rough sketches, I am told that the released book has these in full color and I bet that they are adorable. I pictures were a wonderful addition to the story – they really captured what I was seeing in my head as I was reading the tale and those types of images are always the best.Ibbotson’s tale is a fun-filled adventure for young readers with learning embedded throughout on their journey from the Himalayas to England. This was a very easy read and I think both boys and girls will enjoy it. Amulet markets it for ages 8-12 but if read a loud I think younger audiences can enjoy as well.

[christianr_899499 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another highly enjoyable book by Eva Ibbotson. A family of Yetis needs a mother, so the father takes a young girl, named Lady Agatha, from her tent. When she sees how much she's needed, she happily settles in with them and teaches them all sorts of things, most notably manners and English. Long story short, she eventually convinces two children to take them to her family's estate in England because she is too old to care for them. The trip to England and what awaits them is entertaining. Ibbotson also slips in a few moral issues in her light manner.