Book:Diggers

Diggers
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	April 1990
ISBN	0385269803
Pages	152
RRP	£6.99
Main characters	Masklin, Grimma, Gurder, Angalo de Haberdasheri
Series	Bromeliad series
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

'And Grimma said, We have two choices. We can run, or we hide. And they said, Which shall we do? She said, We shall Fight.'.
A Bright New Dawn is just around the corner for thousands of tiny nomes when they move into the ruined buildings of an abandoned quarry. Or is it?.
Soon strange things start to happen. Like the tops of puddles growing hard and cold, and the water coming down from the sky in frozen bits. Then humans appear and they really mess everything up. The quarry is to be re-opened, and the nomes must fight to defend their new home. But how long will they be able to keep the humans at bay - even with the help of the monster Jekub?

Plot

The Nomes who fled the Arnold Bros department store have now settled down into a new life at the abandoned Quarry. Old Torrit has just died. Masklin is struggling to deal with his feelings for Grimma. He awkwardly suggests that they start a relationship, but she is reluctant and they end up falling out. Masklin is looking to recover the spaceship to take them home. He instead decides to head off with Abbot Gurder and Angalo to take The Thing and investigate the nearby airport. Grimma, who is left in charge of the Nomes, realises that the Quarry is about to be reopened.

The Nomes try sabotaging the humans' attempts to reopen the quarry. Grimma realises her feelings for Masklin but comes to assume that he has died. Gurder's apprentice Nisodemus revolts against Grimma's leadership and tries to persuade the Nomes that they should rebuild the store. He tries to convince them that Arnold Bros (est. 1905) chose him to be their leader by standing in a road, but is run over by a car. Dorcas discovers an abandoned JCB digger (in American editions, a John Deere) and is able to get it working. They use the digger, which they nickname "Jekub" ("Big John" in American editions), to attack the human workmen and escape.

They drive across fields pursued by police cars. The Nomes are rescued when Masklin arrives in the recovered Starship Swan and together they depart the human world. Masklin and Grimma also finally understand their love for each other.