False Face

A girl from a broken home, a boy with a divided heritage, the power of sacred magic and the force of stubborn love

Laney McIntyre is an ordinary 13-year-old trying hard to cope with her divorced parents -- her mother, a beautiful and efficient antique dealer, and her father, a dreamy, impractical archaeologist. Tom Walsh is half-Iroquois and struggling to come to terms with his father's death and a move away from the reserve where he grew up. One day Laney and Tom discover Iroquois false-face masks in a nearby bog. They soon learn that these are much more than mere ancient artifacts. Tom and Laney must experience harrowing fear and danger before realizing the full power the masks hold over each other, and especially over the people who possess them. The two friends must come to grips with the terrible peril posed by trying to control both the masks and the emotions they engender in their owners, a power that definitely does not want to be controlled.

First runner-up "Young Adult Book Award, Canada".

Some Comments About False Face:

"...lives up to the judges' raves."
-- Toronto Globe and Mail, Dec. 12, 1987

"A sure-fire thriller."
-- Montreal Gazette, Dec. 12, 1987

"Juvenile literature doesn't get any better."
-- Strathroy Age-Dispatch, Feb. 3, 1988

"Believable and gripping."
-- Boston Sunday Globe, March 19, 1989

Softcover edition: Groundwood Books, Toronto, seventh paperback printing,1998. ISBN 0-88899-082-0.

Out of print, but autographed copies of Welwyn's books for children and young adults may be ordered from the author. Our Prices for False Face are $9.95 (PB) and $19.95 (HC). Go To Order Page

Foreign Editions:
Het Demonische Masker (Dutch), Facet, Antwerp, ISBN 90-5016-198-7;

Falskt Ansikt (Norwegian), Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo, 1990. ISBN 82-521-3370-3

Det Falska Ansiktet (Swedish), Raben & Sjogren, Stockholm, 1988. ISBN 9129-59090-6

Maskens Magt (Danish), Gyldenalske Boghandel, 1988. ISBN 87-0026054-1.

Falschgesicht (German), Boje Verlag GmbH, Erlangen, 1994. ISBN 3-414-85464-3