Clara disappears on her birthday. Exceptionally wealthy and exceptionally lonely, she requested that a puppeteer and his two orphan helpers stage a spellbinding show for her in the vast empty house. But then the curtains close and darkness falls ... The puppeteer, Grisini, kidnaps Clara and uses his sinister powers to imprison her body and mind in the form of a marionette. His two young assistants realise what has happened, and all three children find themselves caught up in a terrible struggle for supernatural eminence between Grisini and a dying witch of extraordinary power. The bewitching and brilliant magical adventure Fire Spell, published in the USA as Splendors and Glooms, was awarded the Newbery Medal Honor and is a New York Times bestseller.

Author Biography

Laura Amy Schlitz is a librarian and storyteller in Baltimore County, USA. She has worked as a costumier, actress and playwright, and her plays for young people have been produced in theatres all over the county. She has been awarded the Newbery Medal (Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village) and numerous other literary awards. She is a New York Times bestselling author.