Peter Dickinson Books

Dragons are real. At every turn, full-page powerful hypnotic eyes, fierce toothy maws, powerful sinewy bodies, convince us. Descended from dinosaurs, light bones separate compartments of hydrogen. Gas inflates for buoyancy. Chemical sulfur reactions flame breath. Soft gold metal cushions rock bedding. Human worship sacrifices submissive maidens.

Nine stories of blood, magic, and fabulous creatures, set in the framing device of dreams coming to the enchanted wizard Merlin as he lies imprisoned under a great stone.

A practical joker has invaded the confines of Buckingham Palace. But the jokes cease to be funny when a corpse appears in the throne room--and 13-year-old Princess Louise uncovers a dark trail of carefully-kept royal secrets winding through the palace. "Great fun . . . Dickinson . . . has had the ingenuity and discretion to invent his own royal line".--New York Times Book Review.

The Blue Hawk is powerful, sacred, untameable. Its sacrifice will bring glory to the gods, strength to the nation - and the success of evil plans by sinister priests. But when the gods command Tron, a temple boy, to rescue the bird and overturn the sacrifice, the destiny of the kingdom is placed in his hands. Hunted by temple assassins, Tron and his hawk flee into the blazing desert, where they are helped by an ambitious young king with dark secrets of his own. And soon they find themselves at the heart of a ferocious battle for the future of their world.

"This collection of beautifully crafted tales will find a warm welcome from fans of either author, as well as from fantasy readers in general." - School Library Journal This collection tells five tales of creatures who live and die by fire, tales of the present day and the prehistoric past. There is a confrontation in a haunted graveyard, of the Firespace where only dragons can survive, of a boy who is claimed by Fire, of a young man who chases the fireworm through dark tunnels of dream, and the long history of the Phoenix. With characters and storylines as enigmatic as fire itself, these five enthralling tales by master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson are sure to intrigue and delight.

In this masterful tale of greed, deception, and murder, the twisted circumstances surrounding an unspeakable crime, an old man’s fortune, and a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest unfold four decades later. Renowned actor Adrian Waring, beneath his cheerful facade, is haunted by a past linked to his wealthy uncle, Arnold Wragge, who returned from South Africa with a fortune and a devoted servant, Samuel Mkele. When Wragge's son vanished during the war, he saw Andrew, Adrian's younger self, as a potential heir. However, Andrew was more captivated by the allure of theater and the attention of young women, leading him to star in his cousin’s amateur production of The Tempest. This choice would set off a chain of events culminating in a horrific tragedy, forcing Andrew to conceal a terrible truth for decades—even after a body was discovered hanging from a dovecote gallows. Peter Dickinson, a master of mystery and murder, stands alongside the greats of British crime fiction, showcasing his innovative storytelling in this gripping psychological thriller.

In a bungled attempt to kidnap an ambassador's son, four revolutionaries make hostages of a hundred children rehearsing an opera.

Tulku is a children's historical novel by Peter Dickinson, published by Gollancz in 1979. Set in China and Tibet at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, it features a young teenage boy orphaned by the violence, who flees with others to a Buddhist monastery.

In this gripping novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, the survivor of a manor-house crime delves into the past to solve a mystery At the elegant English manor known as Snailwood, tourists come daily to hear decades-old gossip about the second wife of the sixth earl. Zena was a remarkable young woman whose scandalous reputation has been dimmed neither by time nor by her bizarre death. In the 1930s, Zena was the star of a notorious party set whose members included playwrights, politicians, and Nazi sympathizers. They passed wild weekends at Snailwood, arguing about politics and drinking until dawn. At the center of their parties was the manor’s magnificent tower clock. The clock stopped long ago, but the darkness of its legacy continues to spread.   When a workman offers to fix the clock for free, the only remaining survivor of the old days is forced to revisit her memories of Zena’s last mad party, when death came to Snailwood and Britain changed forever.  

Long-awaited new editions of Peter Dickinson's cult classics schovat popis