The story is told by Coriander, daughter of a silk merchant in 1650s London. Her idyllic childhood ends when her mother dies and her father goes away, leaving Coriander with her stepmother, a widow who is in cahoots with a fundamentalist Puritan preacher. She is shut away in a chest and left to die, but emerges into the fairy world from which her mother came, and where time has no meaning. When she returns, charged with a task that will transform her life, she is seventeen.This is a book filled with enchantments -- a pair of silver shoes, a fairy shadow, a prince transformed into a fox - that contrast with the heartbreaking loss and cruelty of Coriander's life in the real world. With its brilliantly realized setting of old London Bridge, and underpinned by the conflict between Royalists and Puritans, it is a terrific page turner, involving kidnapping, murder and romance, and an abundance of vivid characters.Coriander is a heroine to love. Her story will establish Sally Gardner as a children's writer of boundless imagination and originality.Review'completely engaging' (Jennifer TaylorTHE BOOKSELLER)'a beautifully written story. Sally Gardner has clearly researched the times and customs very well indeed for she had me transported back to that far off time. I would definitely recommend this book, told with such care and feeling.' (Muriel BarkingNEW BOOKS)'Beautifullly written, completely absorbing story... the author evokes the streets of London and the political upheavals of the day with compelling ease. (Christine KidneyTHE BOOK MAGAZINE)'will captivate readers with its riveting and detailed parallel storylines, its intriguingly drawn characters, and, above all, its engrossing first person narration' (Marla ArbackYABOOKSCENTRAL.COM)'the skillful writing sweeps through mid-seventeenth century London.' (SCHOOL LIBRARIAN)'a thrilling story that mixes historic realism, credible characters and the dreamy, sometimes violent, dimension of a netherworld. The two blend seamlessly in this gripping and orginal story that abounds with gritty suspense. An excellent read.' (Mary ArriganSUNDAY TRIBUNE)'a book filled with enchantment and difference. You won't read many novels as beautifully written and as enthralling as this rich, spellibinding, new-off-the-black fairy tale.' (John MillenSOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)Book DescriptionA glorious novel set in seventeenth-century London, and in the fairy world.