About the book: year / Thomas stood up. The boat swayed under his feet, trying to turn out, and the kelpie grabbed him under the elbow with his bony fingers. Foma stepped over the low side and scooped up water with his boot. Very small translucent fry darted to the sides. “They’ll find me,” Foma promised, “and they’ll hang you all from the trees.” “Oh, I’m so scared,” said the Kelpie. Foma glanced at him suspiciously. Of course, they were told about the kelpies. Both at school and at home. And that they appeared from nowhere after the Big Spill. And that the first skirmishes with people turned into a protracted and exhausting war. And that the kelpies felt at home in this green, reed-filled world of bogs and water channels. And that since the kelpies appeared, people no longer knew peace. And that the kelpies are just cowards, attacking on the sly... and that all the talk about the kelpies possessing some kind of magic is just lies and gossip that the kelpies themselves spread so that they are feared. And also that Kelpies never laugh because they don’t know how. And that they are impossibly stupid, because they have never mastered human speech.