FARNHAM author ­Ally Sherrick’s latest novel ‘Black Powder’ has won the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2017 in the primary category.

Ally’s book published by Chicken House, is a rip-roaring 17th century adventure, packed full of mystery, intrigue and tension.

The Young Quills awards for historical fiction are presented each year by the Historical Association, recognising the richest historical fiction for youth and young readers released in the previous year.

The shortlist is drawn up by schoolchildren from schools up and down the UK. Ally told the The Historical Association that she is “thrilled and honoured that ‘Black Powder’ has been chosen to win this award”.

She continued: “The Young Quills Awards are a great celebration of the power of stories set in the past both to foster an understanding of and empathy with people’s differing experiences and the challenges they face, and to help young readers steer a course through uncertain times. Long may they continue.”