Starcross

Art and his family are invited on a fantastic free holiday to the exotic Asteroid Belt - in a remote part of space near Mars. Taking the train, they arrive to discover that nothing is quite as it seems - the hotel slips curiously back and forth through time, and the guests behave rather strangely, too. What is behind these bizarre goings on? It's up to Art, Jack Havoc and his sister Myrtle (against her will) to get to the bottom of things. But the giant sand clams and man-eating starfish which roam freely nearby are nothing compared to the True Enemy, which is cunning, sinister, and almost unstoppable, and may resemble a hat ...

Philip Reeve was born and grew up in Brighton. He worked in a bookshop there and on various other projects before starting a career as an illustrator. Although he has been writing stories since he was very young, Mortal Engines was the first to be published - and to incredible critical acclaim. It was shortlisted for The Whitbread Children's Book Award and was awarded the GOLD Nestle Smarties Book Prize as well as being named The Blue Peter Book of the Year 2003. Philip lives in Devon with this wife and son. Illustrator David Wyatt has worked on many beautiful covers for authors, including Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Diana Wynne-Jones, Alan Garner and JRR Tolkien. He lives in an ancient house in a graveyard in Devon, and is a keen lutist, cyclist and wanderer of the moors.