The jack-o'-lanterns, with their wicked smiles and evil glares, are gone for another year. The turkey are happy to announce that Thanksgiving has come and gone. There are few to be seen. Inside all the houses of Waterford, trees are being raised and decorated from top to bottom with sparkling lights, hanging bulbs for kitties to swat, and candies to fill many a dream. Such was the case in the Lion house one late December day until Jack, the policeman, knocked on the front door. Then, the season

For over thirty years, John Simpson has travelled the world to report on the most significant events of our time. From being punched in the stomach by Harold Wilson on one of his first days as a reporter, to escaping summary execution in Beirut, flying into Teheran with the returning Ayatollah Khomeini, and narrowly avoiding entrapment by a beautiful Czech secret agent, Simpson has had an astonishingly eventful career. In 1989 he witnessed the Tiananmen Square massacre, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism throughout Eastern Europe and, only weeks later, in South Africa, the release of Nelson Mandela. With Simpson's uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time, this autobiography is a ring-side seat at every major event in recent global history. 'So vivid I could feel my heart beating' Jonathan Mirsky, Spectator 'great stories, sometimes harrowing, sometimes hilarious' Daily Telegraph

The second volume in an epic fantasy trilogy that will thrill everyone who loves rich stories of wonder and magic.