Martin Booth

When Pip and Tim move into an old manor house, they discover Sebastian, a strange 15th-century boy. He is pursuing his father's enemy, the evil alchemist de Loudeac. Soon Pip and Tom are caught in a web of magic and cunning, and a desperate battle against evil.

In the early 1950s, seven- year-old Martin Booth moved to Hong Kong with his family. With little parental control, and blessed with blonde hair considered lucky in China, he was allowed access to those places normally closed to foreigners. Whilst his mother was keen to embrace all things Chinese, 'going native' enraged his bigoted father.