Castle in the Air

In a city of the Arabian South, the young carpet merchant Abdullah lives in daydreams of a princess until a magic carpet and a real princess, Flower-in-the-Night, meet those dreams. When a djinn steals her away to a fortress in the sky, Abdullah sets out across desert and stranger kingdoms with a soldier, a genie of mixed usefulness, and a cranky magic carpet. The novel is a comic quest: bandits, prophecy, and flying castles, with a tone of fairy-tale inversion. Its centre remains Abdullah's attempt to turn daydream into a rescue, not a war among rival kingdoms.

Bound in black Elephant Hide paper printed and blocked with a pink and white illustration. Black and white picture printed endpapers. Dark blue slipcase covers printed with silver images.