The Intruder is a children's novel by John Rowe Townsend

John Rowe Townsend

John Rowe Townsend is a British children's author and academic. His best-known children's novel is The Intruder, which won a 1971 Edgar Award and the best-known academic work is Written for Children: An Outline of English Language Children's Literature , the definitive work of its time on the...

, published in 1969. It was well-received, being shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal

Carnegie Medal

The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...

 and winning the Horn Book Award

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award

The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...

 in 1970 and the Edgar Award

Edgar Award

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...

 in 1971. The book was adapted for television in 1971.

Plot summary

Sixteen-year-old Arnold Haithwaite is a sand pilot guiding parties of tourists over the sands at Skirlston (when the Admiral is not feeling up to it). But Arnold's quiet life is shattered when a stranger turns up claiming to be the real Arnold Haithwaite. Life at Cottontree House changes dramatically for the young lad and his father when the stranger worms his way into their lives. No one seems to have any sympathy for Arnold's predicament, except newcomers Peter and Jane, and even they are not sure he is not simply imagining the whole thing. Things come to a head when Arnold finds himself fighting the sea itself in the midst of a raging storm, with the stranger at his heels and Jane trapped by the rising tide in the ruins of an old church.

Television adaptation

The book was adapted into a British television series, The Intruder, by Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 in 1971, broadcast 1972. It starred James Bate (as Arnold), Milton Johns

Milton Johns

Milton Johns is an English actor whose thin features and talent for obsequious or oily characters has often influenced the many television parts he has received. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.Johns was born in Bristol...

 and Sheila Ruskin

Sheila Ruskin

Sheila Ruskin is an English actress.She is possibly best known for playing Vipsania in the 1976 BBC adaptation of I, Claudius but is also remembered by fans of Doctor Who for her performance as Kassia in the 1981 serial The Keeper of Traken, and by Blake's 7 fans as Alta 1 in the 1979 episode...

. There were eight episodes.