The Nome Trilogy

The Bromeliad Trilogy

Author	Terry Pratchett
Original title	Truckers (1989), Diggers (1990), Wings (1990)
Language	English
Series	The Bromeliad Trilogy
Genre	Fantasy
Publication place	UK

For the family of flowering plants, see Bromeliaceae.

The Bromeliad Trilogy (also known in the UK as The Nome Trilogy) is a trilogy of children's books by Terry Pratchett, consisting of:

1. Truckers, 1990
2. Diggers, 1991.
3. Wings, 1991

The books are only known as the "The Bromeliad Trilogy" in the US. Other differences include the earth moving machine JCB called Jekub in the UK version but CAT in the US editions and Fiat Allis in the Italian editions.

The trilogy tells the story of the Nomes, a race of tiny people from another world who now live hidden among humans. Through the books they struggle to survive in the world and, once they learn of their history from an artifact known as "The Thing", make plans to return home.

Diggers and Wings are to be read as contemporaneous sequels to Truckers, as each book follows different characters through (mostly) concurrent events. The central character throughout Truckers and Wings is Masklin, in Diggers it is mainly Grimma.

The title is partly a pun on The Belgariad, a fantasy series by David Eddings, and Iliad by Homer. It also refers to the Bromeliaceae plant.

Plot summary

The trilogy tells the story of the Nomes, a race of tiny people from another world who now live hidden among humans. Through the books they struggle to survive in the world and, once they learn of their history from an artifact known as "The Thing", make plans to return home.

Themes

The title refers to the fact that some species of small frogs live their entire lives inside Bromeliad plants, which is a metaphor used throughout the books.

Pratchett covered the idea of small people in his first novel, The Carpet People (1971/1992), about a race of tiny people even smaller than Nomes. The book is unconnected to this series.

Continuity

References in the books suggest that they are set in the same world as Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell novels (1992–1996), which begin with Only You Can Save Mankind.

After being asked if he would write about the Nomes' return (as implied at the end of Wings), Pratchett replied "there may be another book about the nomes."

Plot summary Wings

The book opens in an airport with Masklin, Angelo and Gurder searching for a plane. They have found out that Richard Arnold 39, the grandson of the Arnold Bros, who built the store is planning to fly to Florida for the launch of a new satellite. The Thing told the gnomes that if they can get it onboard the space shuttle it will be able to contact the space ship that the gnomes arrived in. The ship has been waiting to take the gnomes home.

They begin to search the airport for Richard. The Thing is able to talk to the computers in the airport, and it tells them where the plane is. The plane is the Concorde, the three gnomes sneak a long a boarding ramp. The gnomes are in Blackburn, England, the Concorde will take them to Florida, USA.

Gurder is overwhelmed that the Concorde is like the store except there are not many places for the gnomes to hide. Angelo gets into the cockpit and is seen by one of the humans. For a short time The Thing takes control of the jet.

Masklin discovers where Richard Arnold is sitting, once they all meet up he suggests hiding in his carry on luggage.

After they land they get off the jet and they are taken to the hotel where Arnold is staying. A waiter arrives with some food while Arnold is taking a shower, the gnomes help themselves to the food. Arnold comes out of the shower and sees Masklin. The gnomes run outside and camp out by some fires that have gone out.

They discover another group of gnomes who live outside. They do not understand each other. However The Thing is able to translate, the new group of gnomes speak authentic gnomish, the original language of gnomes.

The outside gnomes have learned to control geese, The Thing tells them the launch of the new satellite will be soon. They get on a goose which takes them close to the launch pad. They are forced to run the rest of the way. The Thing asks to be put under the rocket to transmits a message to the satellite which will call the ship. The gnomes escape moments before the exhausts from the rocket ignite. The Thing has stopped talking, it used up all its power. They are not near any power source. Masklin realises that without The Thing to guide the ship it could crash. He is forced to reveal himself to the humans, who take him to a building with electricity. The Thing recharges and informs Masklin that the ship will arrive in four minutes. They escape from the building and Masklin discovers that one of the humans is Arnold. The Thing is able to talk to Arnold, he asks Arnold to take Masklin to the ship.

The ship stops, it hovers four inches above the ground, directly over Gurder Pion and Angelo. Masklin and Arnold have a short conversation, Arnold informs Masklin that his grandfather and his brother guessed there were gnomes in the store because they heard noises at night. Masklin gets aboard the ship where he meets Gurder, Pion and Angelo. They decide to return to the quarry to get the others, The Thing doesn't know the way. They make a short detour to South America to pick up some frogs.

The gnomes see the Concorde flying over the sea. Masklin realises that it must be flying back to England. They arrive in England and discover the quarry. They see the burnt out truck and Jakub. (this is the story of Diggers which happens simultaneously with Wings.) All the gnomes climb on board the ship, they fly into space and head home.

Central characters

• Masklin — A member of the Outside Nomes, Masklin is brave and adventurous.
• The Thing — A small, sentient computer. A part of 'The Ship'
• Torrit — The leader of the Outside Nomes, tasked with keeping The Thing safe. His recent death is mentioned early on in Diggers. Also called old Torrit.
• Grimma — A female counterpart to Masklin, who hates sexism.
• Gurder — A religious store nome. Later becomes the abbot.
• Angalo De Habedasheri — Store nome obsessed with the 'Outside'.
• Dorcas del Icatessen — The most scientific of the nomes. Interested in electricity.
• Granny Morkie — Elderly outside nome.
• Arnold Bros. (est 1905) — The 'founder' of the Store and godlike figure to the nomes.

Appearing only in Truckers

• The Abbot — The leader of the Stationeri. Dies of old age in Truckers.
• The Count de Habedasheri — Angalo's father. The leader of the Habedasheri.
• Bargains Galore
• Prices Slashed: the nomes' name for the store's caretaker who is also the store's boilerman

Appearing only in Diggers

• Sacco and Nooty
• Nisodemus

Appearing only in Wings

• The Floridian Nomes
• Topknot
• Pion
• Richard Arnold - called Grandson Richard by Gurder, appears briefly in Diggers
• The bromeliad frogs

Film and animation

A stop motion animated series of Truckers was produced in the United Kingdom by Cosgrove Hall.

In 2001, DreamWorks acquired the film rights to the trilogy, and announced plans to combine all three books into a single film, to be directed by Andrew Adamson.. However, as of 2008 the company had made no further mention of the project, and Adamson is currently slated to direct both The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Benighted.

Plans to move forward with Dreamwork's adaptation have resurfaced in 2009 since the announcement that Slumdog Millionaire screenwriter Simon Beaufoy is currently penning the script.

Translations

• Trilogia del Piccolo Popolo (Italian)
  • Il Piccolo Popolo dei grandi magazzini
  • Il Piccolo Popolo all'aria aperta
  • Il Piccolo Popolo decolla
• Ævintýri Nálfanna (Icelandic)
  • Flóttinn
  • Undir berum himnu
• Le Grand Livre des gnomes (French)
  • Les Camionneurs
  • Les Terrassiers
  • Les Aéronautes
• Die Schlacht der Nomen (German)
  • Trucker
  • Wühler
  • Flügel
• Trylogia Nomów (Polish)
  • Nomów księga wyjścia
  • Nomów księga kopania
  • Nomów księga odlotu
• Noumi (Serbian)
  • Kamionci
  • Buldožerci
  • Krilci
• El éxodo de los Gnomos (Spanish)
  • Camioneros
  • Cavadores
  • La Nave
• Resan Hem (Swedish)
  • Vi far
  • Vi flyr
  • Vi flyger
• Gnomernes Flugt (Danish)
  • Varehuset
  • Stenbruddet
  • Det Store Skib
• Onttujen kirjat (Finnish)
  • Suuri ajomatka
  • Louhoksen Valtiaat
  • Yläilmoissa
• Manák trilógiája (Hungarian)
  • Sofőrök
  • Földvájók
  • Szárnyalók
• Трилогия за Номите (Bulgarian)
  • Масклин
  • Грима и Доркас
  • Крилете на Масклин
• Τα ανόντα (Greek)
  • Φορτηγατζήδες πάνω στη γη
  • Σκαπανείς κάτω από τη γη
  • Φτερά και πούπουλα στον αέρα
• Trilogia Nomilor (Romanian)
  • În Camion
  • În Excavator
  • În Navă
• Мир Номов (Russian)
  • Угонщики
  • Землекопы
  • Крылья
• Vyprávění o Nomech (Czech)
  • Velká jízda / Na cestu
  • Velký boj / Na nepřítele
  • Velký let / Na shledanou
• טרילוגיית הננסים (Hebrew)
  • ננסי המשאית
  • ננסי המכרות
  • ננסי הכנפיים