Book description
With the slates of the StregaSchloss roof crumbling round their ears,
the Strega-Borgia family, complete with staff and dungeon-dwelling
beasts, is forced to decamp to a local hotel for Christmas. Bored of
being cooped up with only his laptop for entertainment, Titus tries his
own experiment in cyber-cloning, only to end up besieged by 500
miniature versions of himself and his sister Pandora. The beasts too are
fed up at the hotel. Determined to return to StregaSchloss, Ffup the
dragon, Sab the gryphon and friends set off cross-country, only
occasionally distracted by the call of the wild . . . A superbly
labyrinthine plot weaves together clones, kids, beasts and dodgy roofers
with great humour and a touch of magic in this highly acclaimed second
novel. Debi Gliori is the author and illustrator of many books for
children, including the very popular Mr Bear series. She won the
Children's Book Award picture book section, and was shortlisted for the
Kate Greenaway Medal in 1997. Her backlist in Doubleday/Corgi includes
TELL ME SOMETHING HAPPY BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP and THE VERY SMALL. PURE
DEAD MAGIC, the start of a trilogy, was her first novel. The second
part, PURE DEAD WICKED was published in April 2002. Debi lives in
Scotland, near Edinburgh.
