by John
•Music and art are everywhere in this novel. Do you have a favourite painting or cherished song that you think would have a place in this story? What is it? Where would you put it in the story?
•Rémy’s unusual gift often makes him feel like he isn’t ‘normal’ and that he doesn’t fit in with other teenagers. Do you know anyone who feels this way? How have you helped them?
•Have you ever experienced feeling different or alienated from those around you like Rémy? How did you overcome this?
•When Em is in Edinburgh shopping with her mum, they get in an awkward conversation about whether or not Em is pregnant. Have you ever been in a similar awkward conversation? How did you handle it?
•Do you think Matt made the right decision about not getting bound to an official Guardian?
•Do you think Em made the right decision at the Union Ceremony?
•In the story, the twins, Vaughn and Caravaggio are able to travel via famous paintings. Do you have a painting you’d like to ‘fade’ into?
•The novel contains a number of scary scenes, including the ending in the Spanish baths. What scenes in the novel did you find particularly dark?
•The first conjuror arrives in America on a slave ship. What do you know about slavery during the 17th and 18th centuries? Was slavery in the UK different from slavery in America?
•When Rémy gets to London, he’s suddenly homeless. What are some of the lessons he learns as a homeless teenager? Do you know anyone who is homeless? What are some of the things your community is doing to assist homeless teens. What might you do?
•The phrase ‘African diaspora’ is used in the story to describe the relocation of Africans around the world as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. Can you think of other groups of people across history that this term describes?
•Where do you think Em, Matt and Rémy’s story will lead them next?
About John & Carole E. Barrowman
JOHN BARROWMAN is an actor, a recording artist, a presenter and Carole’s wee brother. He’s best known for playing Captain Jack in the television series Doctor Who and Torchwood and the Dark Archer in Arrow.
CAROLE E. BARROWMAN is an English professor and the Director of Creative Studies in Writing at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she’s John’s big sister. Carole and John love art of all kinds and wish they could draw as well as Matt and Em. They have collaborated on six books together.
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Also by John & Carole E. Barrowman
The Hollow Earth Trilogy
Long ago, the Order of Era Mina bound all the beasts of myth and legend into the pages of a single tome. They called the prison they had created the Hollow Earth – a nightmare world built to keep our world safe. Over centuries, their Order grew strong: the men and women with the power to bind and animate the magic of this world learned to live in secret among us, watched over by their constant companions, the Guardians. Each Animarus was tasked with the protection of this world. Each Guardian was tasked with the protection of an Animarus. And in time the history of the Order was forgotten, their relics lost, and the Hollow Earth became nothing but a story.
Now, twelve-year-old twins Matt and Emily Calder are about to discover this world for themselves...
All three are available as an omnibus edition:
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First published in the UK in 2016 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman, 2016
The moral right of John and Carole E. Barrowman to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Paperback ISBN: 9781781856352
eBook ISBN: 9781781856369
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