SAM SEDGMAN’s book The Clockwork Conspiracy is a locked-room mystery packed with rooftop chases, hidden codes and mind-bending science.
Good Reading for Kids asked Sam about clocks and his favourite part of writing the book.
What sparked the idea for The Clockwork Conspiracy?
My dad and I went on a tour of Big Ben and got to stand in the belfry the moment the clock struck six – the bells were so loud I could feel the sound vibrating the bones in my chest! We both found the clock mechanism fascinating, and I decided to learn more about it. I discovered so many incredible things about the clock, and how we measure time, that I couldn’t get them out of my head. So I decided to write a story about them.
What kind of schemes will Isaac uncover in search of his father?
When Isaac’s dad vanishes, there’s a new law being passed to decimalise time: so each day would be split into 10 hours instead of 24, each hour into a hundred minutes, and each minute into a hundred seconds. This is a real thing that once happened during the French Revolution!
This new law has something to do with the disappearance of Isaac’s father, as does the smashed pocket watch left at the scene of the crime. Weirdly, it’s set to the wrong time – but Isaac’s smart enough to figure out it’s actually a secret message.
Isaac is an aspiring inventor – what inspired his character?
Whenever I make a character I like to make them good at something. I find it hard to relate to stories where the hero is “the chosen one” or a long-lost princess or something. Most of us are none of those things! But we’re all good at something, whether that’s drawing or climbing or making friends.
When I read a book about heroes like that, who are just normal people with normal skills, it makes me think I could go on adventures too. When I was at school I had friends who loved to take things apart to see how they worked. I decided to make Isaac an inventor so he would enjoy doing that too: there are lots of machines in his adventure, so I thought that would be a useful skill for him to have.
What was your favourite part of writing this book?
There are lots of exciting scenes in this book where the characters are in danger and racing against time. I loved writing the climax, which takes place in Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, where lots of things come together and the stakes are very high. I wanted to make it as exciting as possible so you wouldn’t be able to put the book down.
What was the most interesting fact you learned about clocks while researching for this book?
You know those 60 little marks around the edge of a clock face that show the minutes in an hour? I discovered those marks are called “chapters”. My face lit up when I learned that – and I knew that this book needed to be written in sixty chapters.
Describe this book in three words
Breathless, mysterious, fun!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Sedgman’s first novel for young readers, The Highland Falcon Thief, was 2020, winning Children’s Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Co-written with his friend M G Leonard, the book was the first instalment of the bestselling middle grade series ‘Adventures On Trains’
Before writing stories for children, Sam worked as a digital consultant for the National Theatre, which meant nosing around backstage with a camera and a microphone, cajoling theatre makers into explaining how stories are built. Forever interested in piecing things together, Sam is a lifelong fan of puzzles, games and detective fiction, and once founded a company making murder mystery treasure hunts for adventurous Londoners.
When he isn’t writing, Sam can usually be found admiring a handsome timepiece, watching Alfred Hitchcock movies, or explaining some weird fact to you. He lives in London, on top of a railway station.
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