For seven years, Daniel Jones lived on the edge of an ancient city. Perhaps it wasn’t really ancient or even real. Wanton girls in see through muslin wandered around the streets. So did wicked men in tight white trousers… To this day, Daniel can’t shop in M & S without wondering what lurks beneath the Food Hall. Ancient Romans? Beau Brummel? King Arthur? Ancient curses? Or just the city drains? People were digging things up, all the time.

Then his family moved North (twice). Daniel always wanted to write books. That’s all you need to know. Anything else might not be true, because writers make things up. It’s what they do. Four hundred years on, who was Shakespeare? Nobody seems to know. Perhaps he really was the man from Stratford? Read Daniel’s books. Begin with ‘Skara’. Sooner or later, the story might begin to seem familiar, because, of course, there are no new plots, only new writers, history repeating itself. The man to watch might be Li Bai. Li Bai? You’ll have to read Skara…

Josh lives in the angry city, broken glass, wrecked cars, a world falling apart. In the North, his cousins live halfway up a mountain. He’ll stay with them all summer, definitely not his idea. The cat’s been sent away too. The train snakes in, red, silver, alien. Rushing to catch their flight to India, his parents drive away with all Josh’s luggage, even his phone. Before this summer’s end, will anyone cross the world so casually? On the train, violinist Li Bai thinks not. He and Josh talk about families, love, loss and dragons. In rural China, Li Bai’s family might be on another planet, but their world is changing too. Saying goodbye, Li Bai promises tickets for his next concert.

The train speeds North, into the high hills. Josh barely knows his cousins. Tall and dark, Adam rides a black horse. In snow-white armour, he fights with a silver sword. In the skies above, dragons roar. They live in the high mountain caves…

Allegedly… In her emails, Alice weaves all kinds of nonsense. There’s another girl, Rose. Older or younger? Alice has to be lying, dragons were never real. But Adam’s armour really is white, his sword silver and horse coal-black, the mountains high and mysterious. The new lakes used to be fields. The Army promise food. When the next storm strikes, Josh and his cousins are on their own. Li Bai? Li Bai’s role isn’t over… It might just be beginning.