The Estate of Peter Dickinson

Once the twenty-four most powerful magicians in the Empire pledged to use their magic only to protect the people. But the promise that bound them has now corrupted them. They have become a single, terrible entity with a limitless desire for domination. Only the Ropemaker may be able to stop them, but he has not been seen for over two hundred years.
Into this dangerous world come Saranja, Maja and Ribek. They are seeking the Ropemaker so that he might restore the ancient magic that protects their Valley. It is the task they were born to, but now it seems there is far more than the Valley at stake should they fail.

In ANGEL ISLE, the spectacular sequel to THE ROPEMAKER, Peter Dickinson takes readers on another spellbinding adventure into his epic and enthralling fantasy world.

Gavin’s grandad is making a model boat for his birthday. This is no ordinary boat, but a sea-going replica of the trawler from which Gavin’s great grandfather drowned at sea, which bears the name of those legendary sea-creature guardians of sailors in trouble – the 'Selkie'. But before the birthday grandad is taken to hospital after a paralyzing stroke, and Gavin embarks on his own extraordinary voyage – to save the life of his closest friend, to save grandad from drowning in his own unconcious sea, a voyage which maybe he can only make with the help of the Selkie.

The people of the Valley have been protected by powerful magic for twenty generations. No enemies can penetrate the poisoned forests to the south or the deadly glaciers to the north. But the spell is weakening. Setting out to challenge the might of the evil Emperor and his powerful magicians are Tilja, her companions and an obstinate horse. They must seek a mythical figure from years ago. On their long and perilous journey Tilja discovers her own strange power. It will enable her to enter the Empire’s most guarded fortress, and discover the identity of the one they call the Ropemaker – a man who controls the rope of time itself. Peter Dickinson’s first novel of high fantasy is a work of extraordinary inventiveness. Rich and vast in its scope, it creates a new and brilliant world.

TEARS OF THE SALAMANDER is a gripping story of alchemy, music and sorcery set in medieval Italy. Alfredo di Sala has been chosen as a castrato for the Cathedral Choir. But after the mysterious death of his parents he is rescued from castration and enslavement to the Church by his mysterious Uncle Giorgio, who sent him the golden Salamander on a chain on his seventh birthday.
The elderly Giorgio di Sala, who lives close to Mount Etna with his housekeeper Annetta and her dumb son Toni, is the Master of the Mountain – a title which Alfredo is in line to inherit. But Giorgio plans to use Alfredo’s exquisite singing to control the real Salamander, which lives in the furnace in his workroom and thus possess the key to his destiny: the Elixir of Life, which is controlled by the mountain’s Angels of fire. The key alone is not enough to gain the eternal power which Giorgio craves, however: first he must kill his rightful heir, the bastard Toni, and be reborn in the body of his brother’s child.