Twenty years have passed since Eager, the conscious robot, went to live with a human family, the Bells. But the misuse of such robots by corrupt scientists has ended their development. Eager must now remain hidden, and that's not easy with a nephew as headstrong as Jonquil...



Helen Fox's first book about Eager (called just that), set in a future world where the human population's every need was met by an omnipresent government who dictated to its citizens exactly what they needed, was hugely entertaining and filled with humour, but carried an extremely serious message about political corruption and control. Her sequel continues Eager's story with the sure hand of an author who continues to be driven by the ethical and intellectual conundrums she set readers in her earlier book. Because of the actions of a corrupt element of society who were intent on taking power through the use of conscious robots who could think independently and felt emotion, the development of these robots have been banned, and Eager has been forced into hiding. Now, careful to conceal his abilities, Eager visits the Bells for a holiday, unwittingly bringing with him his nephew, a fault seeking robot with chameleon like powers, headstrong, inquisitive, extremely useful, but a nightmare for Eager, intent on preventing his discovery. As a dearly loved member of the family, and particularly attached to Fleur (a baby in the first novel) Eager is deeply concerned at the disappearance of her husband, Ju's father, Sam, a scientist whose un-pc views have attracted unfavourable attention from the current authoritarian political government, and endeavours to bring about his recovery.
For older Key Stage 2 and 3 readers, who will identify with the adolescent worries which beset Ju and Finbar, Eager's Nephew presents a number of moral dilemmas relevant to their own lives, and the future of civilization in general, and Fox particularly addresses questions of personal trauma, scientific ethics, especially the misuse of knowledge and the safeguards necessary to prevent this. Framed within an engrossing novel peopled with sympathetic and richly humorous characters (the animat Nurse from Romeo and Juliet is a wonderful example), these issues become hugely significant issues for all read