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Informationen zum Autor Anna James (she/her) is a writer and journalist. She was a school librarian before joining The Bookseller as their book news editor. She now writes for a variety of newspapers and magazines, and chairs events at bookshops and literary festivals across the UK. She lives in north London, in a flat full of books. Klappentext This is "the final magical bookwandering adventure in the ... Pages & Co. series featuring Milo and Tilly as they travel into Arthurian legend to find the first bookwanderer"-- Leseprobe Chapter 1 A Tangle of History and Myth When traveling through a magical portal, you don’t usually expect to end up at a tourist attraction. And yet, for five bookwanderers, that was exactly what seemed to have happened. They stood beneath a slate archway and behind them stretched the wilds of the Northumbrian countryside. In front of them was somewhere entirely different—instead of fields, there was the sea, but there was also a queue of slightly sunburned people staring at them in annoyance. Thankfully, these people didn’t seem to be able to see Northumberland through the portal, or the magical book-smuggling train waiting there. The dirty looks were all due to Tilly, Milo, Oskar, Alessia, and Rosa jumping the queue for the archway photo opportunity. “The portal is broken,” Alessia said bluntly. “It’s not exactly broken,” Oskar pointed out. “It did bring us . . . somewhere. Something magical happened.” “It took us to the right place,” Rosa said slowly, looking around. “This is Tintagel Castle in Cornwall all right. But I’m worried that it’s the wrong time—or the wrong . . . layer?” “It’s me,” said Milo, resigned. “I did something wrong. I’m not the Anonymous Reader after all. I’ve created some sort of sightseeing portal instead of the one we need to find The Book of Books. The Alchemist is going to track it down first, steal everyone’s imagination, and it’s all my fault.” “Well, can we go back and try again?” Tilly asked, just as the hazy gateway shimmered out of existence. “You ruined it,” Alessia said accusingly to Tilly. “I hardly think a stone archway is listening to me,” Tilly retorted. “Is it?” She turned to Rosa, who looked troubled. Considering Rosa was the person who was closest to being in charge, this wasn’t the most reassuring thing for the others to see. “Hang on, though,” said Oskar. “What did you say about layers? You said we might be in the wrong time or the wrong layer?” “I’m not sure how the magic is supposed to work,” admitted Rosa. “There’s never been any serious threat to the Book before the Alchemist learned of its existence, and I can’t use the gateway by myself, so I haven’t been here before. I was taught how to get here, but not what to do next. I must say I thought it would be more obvious. We seem to have come to actual Tintagel Castle in the regular world—the portal has simply teleported us. I was expecting it to take us inside Story, or even back in time. Merlin isn’t exactly going to be wandering around in jeans, taking selfies and queuing for ice cream, is he?” “Is he not?” Oskar asked entirely sincerely. “Fictional people are rarely what you’re expecting.” “Well, I suppose I don’t know,” Rosa said, sounding flustered. “I’ve never met him before! Maybe he’s immortal, and has hung out here for centuries and just carries the Book around in a backpack!” The four younger bookwanderers looked at Rosa, worried. Before the Alchemist had taken Pages & Co. hostage, Rosa had rarely become visibly frazzled and always seemed confident as to the best thing to do. The news that the Alchemist had discovered a secret route to The Book of Books—via a book hidden in Pages & Co.—had turned her focused determination into scattered fear. “It’s not your fault, you know,” Milo said gently. “None of it.” “Is it not, sweet Milo?”...
