Pobby and Dingan / Specks in the Sky

Pobby and Dingan live in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, the opal capital of Australia. They are friends with Kellyanne Williamson, the daughter of a miner: indeed only she can see them. Pobby and Dingan are imaginary. Ashmol Williamson, Kellyanne's brother thinks his sister should grow up and stop being such a fruit loop - until the day when Pobby and Dingan disappear. As Kellyanne, grief-stricken, begins to fade away, Ashmol recruits the whole town in the search for Pobby and Dingan. In the end, however, he discovers that only he can find them, and he can only find them if he too begins to believe they are real.

“Unforgettable. . . . An enormously touching, imaginative and unexpected novel that just glows in your hands.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Glorious. . . . Ben Rice has crafted a charming, deceptively simple story, then given it color, richness and depth.” -New York Post

“By turns quirky, shocking, moving, funny, fantastical and all too real. . . . [Rice is] an almost astonishingly gifted writer.” —The Observer (London)

“A gem. . . . odd, bewitching, and memorable.” –The Commercial Appeal

“Packed with more winning details and full-blooded characters than many over-stuffed novels.” —Houston Chronicle

“At once delicate and down to earth . . . [Pobby and Dingan] has a quiet strength.” –The Washington Post

“A disarmingly gentle yet disturbingly layered tale about buried truths.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Wondrous and moving. . . . Downright charming. . . . A winner.” –The Arizona Republic

“Rice has fashioned a fable that will echo in reader’s imaginations every time they catch themselves communicating with loved ones who are not strictly beside them.” —Boston Herald

“Rice has created an enchanting fictional world that lives and breathes . . . [and] beautifully articulates childhood's life-changing moments.” –Book Magazine

"Quirky, moving and completely unexpected. It will charm all but the most determined cynic.” —Daily Telegraph

“Original, witty and entertaining.” –Rocky Mountain News


From the Trade Paperback edition.