Prospero's Children [Paperback]

Fern and Will, the children of a feckless art dealer find themselves sharing the remote farmhouse he has inherited with his current, and sinister, mistress. Something snuffles outside; a stone in the garden, which bears an odd resemblance to a passing tramp, moves in the night; a wolfish dog befriends them. Dreams and sleepwalking and the most remarkable video-tape ever watched provide the 16-year-old Fern with evidence that the world is not the controllable, rational place she thought it was, and that her own future is to be altogether more remarkable, and full of pain and wisdom, than she has expected ... Jan Siegel has taken the material of a hundred good children's fantasies and from it woven a book which hovers, like her heroine, on the brink of being fully adult, with the visionary power that often comes from inhabiting the threshold between states. Her handling of shop-worn questions like the paradoxes of time, the price of souls and the sinking of Atlantis, is as fresh and remarkable as fantasy ever gets; this impressive first novel is a classic in the making, and, it is to be hoped, the debut of a brilliant career. --Roz Kaveney

Fern and Will, the children of a feckless art dealer find themselves sharing the remote farmhouse he has inherited with his current, and sinister, mistress. Something snuffles outside; a stone in the garden, which bears an odd resemblance to a passing tramp, moves in the night; a wolfish dog befriends them. Dreams and sleepwalking and the most remarkable video-tape ever watched provide the sixteen-year-old Fern with evidence that the world is not the controllable, rational place she thought it was, and that her own future is to be altogether more remarkable, and full of pain and wisdom, than she has expected ... Jan Siegel has taken the material of a hundred good children's fantasies and from it woven a book which hovers, like her heroine, on the brink of being fully adult, with the visionary power that often comes from inhabiting the threshold between states. Her handling of shop-worn questions like the paradoxes of time, the price of souls and the sinking of Atlantis, is as fresh and remarkable as fantasy ever gets; this impressive first novel is a classic in the making, and, it is to be hoped, the debut of a brilliant career. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘Prospero’s Children is a piece of pure magic – a charming, eccentric, and powerfully imaginative work of fantasy which will enchant readers for years to come.’
Clive Barker

‘A lyrical, captivating first novel of mermaids, magic, lost worlds and found souls. Once read, this book will not be forgotten’
Terry Brooks

English fantasy at its finest, the first in this exciting new trilogy steps into the gap that exists between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Clive Barker’s Weaveworld.

A mysterious, isolated house awaits sixteen-year-old Fern and her brother Will for the summer holidays. As the old house reveals its secrets, their familiar world starts to fracture, giving access to a magical and corrupt land destroyed thousands of years ago.

For hidden in the house is a talisman which has been sought by the forces of good and evil for millennia. And only someone possessed of the Gift can use it.

Soon, Fern finds herself being courted by the enigmatic wanderer, Ragginbone, and the sinister art-dealer, Javier Holt, who know that she has the Gift. Both want her to find the talisman, and use it to unlock the door, but what awaits her on the other side…?

This is English fantasy at its finest. Prospero’s Children steps into the gap that exists between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Clive Barker’s Weaveworld, and is destined to become a modern classic.

A MYTHICAL KEY IS ABOUT TO BE FOUND…BUT WHAT KIND OF DOOR WILL IT OPEN?

A mysterious, isolated house awaits sixteen-year-old Fern and her brother Will for the summer holidays, and as the old house reveals its secrets, their familiar world starts to fracture, giving access to a magical and corrupt land destroyed thousands of years ago.

For hidden in the house is a talisman which has been sought by the forces of good and evil for millennia. And only someone possessed of the Gift can use it.

Soon, Fern finds herself being courted by the enigmatic wanderer, Ragginbone, and the sinister art-dealer, Javier Holt, who know that she has the Gift. Both want her to find the talisman, and use it to unlock the Door, but what awaits her on the other side?

''A piece of pure magic – a charming, eccentric, and powerfully imaginative work of fantasy which will enchant readers for years to come.'' CLIVE BARKER

''A lyrical, captivating first novel of mermaids, magic, lost worlds, and found souls. Once read, this book will not be forgotten.''TERRY BROOKS

Jan Siegel has already lived through one lifetime – during which she travelled the world and supported herself through a variety of professions, including those of actress, barmaid, garage hand, laboratory assistant, journalist and model. Her new life is devoted to her writing, but she also finds time to ride, ski and attend the opera.