Arriman has decided to marry. His wife must be a witch of the darkest powers... To find the most fiendish, he holds a spell-casting competition. Glamorous Olympia performs the Symphony of Death and conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats. The magic of gentle Belladonna, the white witch, goes hopelessly wrong. She produces perfumed flowers instead of snakes. Bats roost in her hair instead of becoming blood-sucking vampires. Belladonna longs to be an evil enchantress - but how?
Which Witch? is a brilliantly witty tale of magic and marriage by Eva Ibbotson, and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
'Find me a witch!' cried Arriman the Awful, feared Wizard of the North.
Arriman has decided to marry. His wife must be a witch of the darkest powers - but which witch will she be? To find the most fiendish, he holds a spell-casting competition.
Glamorous Madame Olympia performs the terrifying Symphony of Death and conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats. The magic of gentle Belladonna, the white witch, goes hopelessly wrong. She produces perfumed flowers instead of snakes. And bats roost in her golden hair instead of becoming blood-sucking vampires.
Annika never has a birthday - no one knows the date she was born. She celebrates her Found Day instead. For Annika was abandoned as a baby and found by a cook and a housemaid from Vienna. Her upbringing in the servants' quarters of the house of three eccentric professors means that at an early age she can bake and ice a three-tier cake, and polish parquet floors to perfection.
One summer's evening a very old lady comes to stay with Annika's awful neighbours. The stories of her extraordinary life as a famous dancer are spellbinding. Especially the tale of the besotted Russian count who gave her the legendary emerald, the Star of Kazan. Then suddenly a glamorous stranger arrives at Annika's door. Her mother, after years of guilt and searching, has come to claim her. Annika is no servant but a Prussian aristocrat whose true home is a great castle. But at crumbling, spooky Spittal she discovers that all is not as it seems in the lives of her new-found family . . .
Eva Ibbotson's hugely entertaining The Star of Kazan is a timeless classic for listeners young and old.
Under Platform 13 at Kings Cross Station there is a secret door... It appears only once every nine years. When it opens, four mysterious figures step into the streets of London. A wizard, an ogre, a fey and a young hag have come to find the prince of their kingdom, stolen as a baby nine years before. But the prince has become a horrible rich boy called Raymond Trottle who is determined not to be rescued.
Under Platform thirteen at King's Cross Station there is a secret door that leads to a magical island. . .
It appears only once every nine years. And when it opens, four mysterious figures step into the streets of London. A wizard, an ogre, a fey and a young hag have come to find the prince of their kingdom, stolen as a baby nine years before.
But the prince has become a horrible rich boy called Raymond Trottle who doesn't understand magic and is determined not to be rescued.
The Secret of Platform 13 is an exciting magical adventure from Eva Ibbotson, the award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea.
'This kind of fun will never fail to delight.' Philip Pullman
Eva Ibbotson's charming and warm-hearted tale, The Secret Countess, was originally published as A Countess Below Stairs.
Anna, a young countess, has lived in the glittering city of St Petersburg all her life in an ice-blue palace overlooking the River Neva. But when revolution tears Russia apart, her now-penniless family is forced to flee to England. Armed with an out-of-date book on housekeeping, Anna determines to become a housemaid and she finds work at the Earl of Westerholme's crumbling but magnificent mansion. The staff and the family are sure there is something not quite right about their new maid - but she soon wins them over with her warmth and dedication.
Then the young Earl returns home from the war - and Anna falls hopelessly in love. But they can never be together: Rupert is engaged to the snobbish and awful Muriel - and anyway, Anna is only a servant. Or so everybody thinks . . .
When a Hag, an orphan boy called Ivo, Ulf the troll and wizard Brian Brainsweller are get sent to rescue a princess from an ogre, they expect it to be a fairly standard magical mission. But the ogre is depressed, the princess doesn't want to be rescued - and the ogre's dead wife is turning in her grave. The Norns who rule their fates decide to take things in hand - will the Ogre meet a bloody end, or will he get a happy ending?
The Ogre of Oglefort is a wonderfully spooky young-fiction title from the award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson.
When a Hag, an orphan boy and a troll called Ulf get sent to rescue a princess from an ogre, they expect it to be a fairly standard magical mission. But the ogre is depressed and the princess doesn't want to be rescued. The Norns who rule their fates decide to take things in hand - will the Ogre meet a bloody end, or will he get a happy ending?
Ruth lives in Vienna and is wildly in love with Heini Radik, a brilliant young pianist. When Hitler's forces invade Ruth's family flees to London, but she cannot get a passport. Quin, a young professor and friend of the family, visits Ruth and offers a marriage of convenience. On their return to London, Quin begins to fall desperately in love with her. But then Heini turns up...
The Morning Gift is a beautiful, classic romance from much loved author, Eva Ibbotson.
Ruth lives in the beautiful city of Vienna and is wildly in love with Heini Radik, a brilliant young pianist. But her world is about to change forever.
When Hitler's forces invade Ruth's family flees to London, but she is unable to get a passport. Quin, a young professor and friend of the family, visits Ruth and in an effort to bring her back to London, he offers a marriage of convenience. As Ruth throws herself into her London life, Quin begins to fall desperately in love with her. Things are further complicated by the arrival of Heini . . .
'I will buy your castle,' declared Hiram C. Hopgood. 'But only if there are no ghosts!' Alex MacBuff can't afford to keep his beloved Castle Carra - and an American millionaire has made him an offer he can't refuse. But the castle is full of ghosts! There's Krok the hairy Viking warrior, mad Miss Spinks, a hell-hound called Cyril, and a vampire with no teeth. How can Alex stop them haunting Hiram?
As a bloodcurlingly fearsome ghost, Humphrey the Horrible is a failure.
He's not horrible at all. Instead of being ghastly and skeletal, he's pink and fluffy, like a summer cloud. He longs to be like his brother, who's a Screaming Skull. Or his father, who has stumps for legs and a sword through his chest. Or even his cousins who are like vampire bats. Poor Humphrey, though, can't scare anyone.
But when the ghosts are in danger, it's clever Humphrey who comes up with a rescue plan. . .
Read aloud by actor John Sessions, The Great Ghost Race is a wonderfully spooky young-fiction title from the award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson.
'This kind of fun will never fail to delight' Philip Pullman
