Handles (novel)
novel by Jan Mark
Handles is a realistic children's novel by Jan Mark, first published in 1983 by Kestrel Books of Harmondsworth, London, with illustrations by David Parkins. Set in the Norfolk countryside, it features a city girl on holiday, who loves motorcycles. Nicholas Tucker calls it "a happy, optimistic work"; Erica escapes "mean-minded relatives" for the "anarchic motorbike-repair outfit in a nearby town".
Mark and Handles won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. Thus she became the third writer with two such honors (of seven through 2012), having won the 1976 Medal for her debut novel Thunder and Lightnings. Also set in the Norfolk countryside, it features two boys who love aeroplanes.
Atheneum Books published the first U.S. edition in 1985, retaining the Parkins illustrations.
Title
"Handles" in this book are names with a special significance, a symbol of self-discovery or growing into oneself. The title also plays on the "handles" by which a motorcycle is steered, a symbol of control.
Plot introduction
Erica Timperley, a city girl who loves motorcycles, is bored with her holiday in Norfolk where her Uncle and Aunt grow acres of vegetables.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Handles (novel)” is novel by Jan Mark. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Handles, novel and Mark, not as a finished interpretation.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16993643. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1983, 2012, 1976 and 1985.
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This entry incorporates text from “Handles (novel)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.